2005/03/01 - Racing Club Warwick 1 Alvechurch 0 - Midland Football Alliance League Cup Semi-Final 1st Leg

For March 1st I'm going back 16 years to 2005 and Racing Club Warwick's Midland Football Alliance League Cup Semi-Final 1st Leg against Alvechurch.

Alvechurch is a village club located in Worcestershire (the sauce!) just to the South-West of Birmingham. Today they ply their footballing trade in the Southern League Premier Central Division (non-league step 3). Alvechurch have a claim to fame for their part in English FA Cup football history in that they, along with Oxford City, participated in the longest FA Cup match ever, a record that is unlikely to be broken because drawn replays have gone to a penalty shootout since 1991. The tie involved 6 matches, including five replays and four of those replays went to extra time. The 6 games were spread over just 17 days and Alvechurch also fitted in a regular league game during this period before overcoming Oxford City at the 6th attempt! Their reward was a First Round Proper tie against Aldershot which they lost 4-2 at the first time of asking.

In my subsequent programme article I wrote" It is very tempting to go overboard about Warwick’s dramatic late win in the Polymac Services League Cup Semi-Final First Leg here on Tuesday night. Genuine dyed-in-the-wool football aficionados will tell you that it’s really only half-time in a two legged affair but it cannot be denied that we have forced our noses in front at the half-way stage and struck a savage psychological blow by the manner of our late win. There was no clue as to the dramatic late twist during the course of the match. Alvechurch had the better of the early exchanges and looked a completely different side to the one that Racing Club beat 6-2 earlier in the season. The pitch was a bit of a pudding and it made close control and neat passing a difficult art. Clear-cut chances were at a premium and, although Racing Club asserted themselves as the match progressed, it did look like a 0-0 from a relatively early stage. When Jermaine Gordon, probably Warwick’s hardest grafter on the night, was replaced with 5 minutes to go by Marcus King, I remarked somewhat sarcastically that it was an obvious like-for-like switch. I was hardly expecting to see Marcus operating as a front-runner! So in the 90th minute we were all astonished to see Marcus bearing down on goal with the ball at his feet. Seconds later our astonishment turned to delight as he slipped the ball past Alvechurch’s Tom Hemmings like an accomplished striker for the all important first leg winner. Marcus King? Striker! Marcus Law? Tactical genius!".

For those of you unfamiliar with Racing Club players of this era you need to know that Jermaine Gordon (affectionately known as "Jam" was a big beast of a player and an out-and-out striker. Marcus King on the other hand was relatively short and slight and played wide midfield. So it was nothing like a like-for-like substitution! The other thing that I remember about Marcus was that he had a hearing impediment and often wore a small hearing aid whilst playing. We also watched the players and staff scouring the pitch for his lost hearing aid after the final whistle at one game! He was never a regular starter for Racing Club but will always be remembered for this goal by those that were there (all 124 of us!). One week later Racing Club completed the job, beating Alvechurch 4-2 away from home in the second leg and 5-2 on aggregate to take their place in the League Cup Final.

CRB Match No. 1423