Sunday sees Forest take a trip down to Old Sarum, just to the north of Salisbury itself, to take on Salisbury City. Salisbury City are in the same league as Yeading, who we demolished 5-0 in the previous round – although they sit proudly in 3rd place on the Conference South currently, so should prove a slightly more challenging prospect than “The Ding” in the last round – particularly given it’s at their place, and will be infront of the BBC cameras.
So we can expect over-excited coverage, much mentions of our illustrious history and patronising false praise for the small team from f**kwits like Mark Lawrenson! It will be a full ground, with Salisbury selling out the home tickets quickly, and Forest issuing the last few tickets not snapped up by Away members and season ticket holders for general sale this afternoon – even with only around 350 Forest fans, I imagine they’ll be able to drum up a bit of an atmosphere.
As well as an impressive league record, Salisbury have yet to concede an FA Cup goal this season – and whilst I’m sure their defenders are relishing the prospect of facing our myriad of strikers, I imagine they are slightly nervous too! I hate the patronising “biggest game in the club’s history” crap, but the fact is, it probably is – with a record attendance of 2,700 expected to attend the game. Let’s hope they’ve ordered in enough Bovril, apparently their ground is somewhat open to the elements!
Forest, as we know, aren’t on a bad run – we’re still on an unbeaten run as far as I’m concerned, since we only succumbed to a penalty shootout last night against Bristol City. I expect Smoulds to field a strong side against Salisbury, with Smith a doubt owing to a slight injury, but Cullip and Agogo are expected to make the squad – whether they start or not remains to be seen. Ultimately, I would expect a spirited resistance from Salisbury but we really should have the quality to overcome them.
Of course, the reward for the victor is a place in the 3rd round draw with the big teams – and the chance of getting one is bigger than ever, since for the last two seasons there have mysteriously not been two Premiership teams drawn together in the 3rd round of the FA Cup – an accident? I think not! That said, a “big” team could constitute Sheffield United or Watford, call me deluded, but that doesn’t really excite me a great deal!
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