The excitement, foul language and lost balls of the early rounds of the FA Cup - Haringey & Waltham Development 1 Biggleswade Town 2

One team is in Real Madrid white and the other is wearing Sporting Lisbon style green and white stripes. This isn’t a top European clash though; this is Haringey & Waltham Development against Biggleswade Town in an FA Cup Preliminary Round Replay.

The venue is Crofts Park in North London. Smuggled in amongst a post war housing estate and flanked on one side by the confusingly named White Hart Lane, the ground is cosy and welcoming.

It has the suburban feel of a local club supported by family and friends who gather in the warmth of the main stand that dominates the pitch and has eye-like floodlights (below) which gives the ground an odd concrete life.

Ahead of kick-off both teams warmed-up with a noticeable tension, enhanced by shouts of encouragement echoing from in and around the cold concrete shells on the opposite side of the pitch, which were the substitute’s bench.

The two teams had a right to be nervous having drawn the first game 5-5. The visitors should have seen off their opposition from the league below in the first game; however Haringey of the Essex Senior League came back from a 4-1 half time deficit to force a draw against the team from Division One Central of the Southern League.

Friends, family and loyal fans stood and cheered as the game kicked-off, before largely settling into casual chatter, with the game as an enjoyable backdrop.

Their attention was drawn away from each other though when Biggleswade’s Harry Hunt found himself through on goal in the opening few minutes and coolly slotted in to open the scoring.

The hosts struggled to assert themselves on the game though, as their visitor’s direct style of play exposed gaps behind the Haringey defence, but they would be given a helping hand back into the game only moments later.

A hopeful long ball from the right hand side was launched into the box by Larry Oppong and seemingly posed no immediate danger to the keeper Dean Bull, but Biggleswade’s captain Liam Folds despairingly lunged for the ball and his header looped into the empty net.

After the equaliser Haringey sporadically played a brand of passing football in the style of the team they share a kit, with captain Joe Staunton the dynamic fulcrum of any move, but the hosts struggled to create any clear chances.

Biggleswade’s direct and effective style stunted their host’s progression into the last third of the pitch, as did an over hit cross bouncing off the roof of a Nissan Serena people carrier and into a garden behind one of the goals.

This theme would repeat as balls were lost to the undergrowth surrounding the pitch and anxious shouts would erupt from the bench for a new ball to be found.

I stood next to the dugout for the second half from where the passion of the game was far more apparent than in the opposite stand.

The prize of a place in the qualifying round of the Cup turned the game into a midfield battle after the break, with neither team able to hold possession and unwilling to risk being defensively exposed.

Biggleswade captain Folds was again involved ten minutes after the restart when his late tackle caused a mêlée of players to surround the referee, before a fellow defender calmly pointed out “to be fair ref, he just mistimed it” which seemed to satisfy everyone involved and man in the middle.

Referee Constantine Hatzidakis didn’t always have it so easy though, as nearly every contentious tackle was verbally contested and usually preceded with shouts of “fuckin’ hell ref” to which he repeatedly and calmly responded in a polite manner, diffusing any potential scuffles.

The tension was increased with 20 minutes remaining when Biggleswade forward Paul Barnes was found unmarked from a looping free-kick to head in from six yards.

The sense of urgency increased in both teams, as legs were franticly swung at the ball in either direction.

Haringey went close twice through winger Perry Burns, but the visitors could have sealed a win but for the bar stopping Craig Daniel’s thundering drive.

Nerves and finger nails were similarly being frayed in the home dugout, with one bench-warmer suggesting that more should be down to cover the defensive holes that were beginning to be exposed as Haringey pushed forward, to which assistant manager Gavin Cosson firmly retorted “players score goals, space doesn’t. Players score goals, space doesn’t.”

With only a few minutes remaining the hosts were given a lifeline when Harry Honesty was tripped in the box and a penalty was given, much to the battling visitor’s consternation.

A friend of a Haringey substitute arrived late in his Smart car and drove around the pitch to watch the closing moments, but he was clearly too nervous to get out, as he watched from the warmth of his micro-hatchback.

Man of the match Staunton stepped up to take it, as the crowd hushed in expectation, but nerves got the better of him and he ballooned his effort high over the bar to a chorus of groans, moans, disgruntled swearing and vain motivational shouts of encouragement.

It wasn’t enough though and Haringey were out of the Cup.

Manager Tony Levoli was far from unhappy with his team’s performance though: “[Bigglesawade] are a big club with fantastic facilities and we’re a new team, only aged between 17 and 21 and over the two games it’s very hard to take that we didn’t edge it.

“The players gave everything they got and if we’d been a bit more clinical in front of goal I think it might have been a different story.”

Levoli is clearly content with the young team he’s assembled and their attitude towards the game is something which promotes optimism in him for the future.

“I’m proud of them because they’re only a young bunch of players and they’ve got a great attitude and they want to learn. They’re not all motivated by the things that footballers at this level are motivated by, like trying to see who’s going to pay the biggest buck.

“They want to play football in the right way and we try to promote it as best we can and hopefully we’ll win more than we lose this season.”

Haringey’s next fixture is away at Cranfield United in the first round of the FA Vase.

Tags: FA Cup, Non-League