Today I'm going back just two years to 2019 and an FA Cup 2nd Round tie between National League side Solihull Moors and League 1 Rotherham United played at Damson Park, Solihull in front of 2,317 people.
Solihull Moors are the product of a merger of two football clubs in 2007. Moor Green, founded over 100 years earlier in 1901 and Solihull Borough, founded in 1953 came together to form the new club. I had seen both in their original guise and managed a visit to Moor Green's former home known as the Moorlands in the Hall Green district of Birmingham. Sadly the Moorlands was rendered unusable by an arson attack in 2005 and it was this that eventually led to the merger. Since then, Solihull Moors have gone from strength to strength and they find themselves these days on the threshold of the Football League itself. Don't be surprised if they are one of the next Non-League sides to reach such giddy heights.
Games in the FA Cup between Football League and Non-League teams invariably attract the attention of the media on the lookout for a potential "story" and, hopefully, a "Giantkilling". Giantkilling is the term applied in those David And Goliath ("Goaliath"?) situations where the so called little club comes out on top against a more senior club in the English football hierarchy. This is also sometimes termed as a "Cupset". Almost every lower ranked team glories in the day that they overcame a bigger side and, in York City's case, possibly the most famous occasion was when they beat Arsenal 1-0 at Bootham Crescent in 1985. However, voted as the greatest FA Cup tie of all time a few years ago was Non-League Hereford United's 2-1 victory over First Division opponents Newcastle United back in 1972. Today's featured game was one such match where the media smelled the possibility of an upset and, certainly, the game was a cracker.
The first goal of the night fizzed into the "top bin" after only 5 minutes by Jamie Osborne to put Tim Flowers' non-league side ahead against their Football League opponents. Two minutes later and, with a whiff of offside about it, Solihull had their second following terrible marking by a wide-open Rotherham defence which allowed Alex Gudger all the freedom of the park to slot the ball home. After the initial goals splurge we had to wait until the second half and the 61st minute for the next goal and it was Solihull who grabbed this one too with a simple tap in for Jimmy Ball. "And I think it's goodnight Rotherham" said the commentator on BT Sport prophetically and entirely incorrectly. Little did we know what was about to unfold. With just 15 minutes remaining Ladapo pulled one back and three minutes later they had their second, this time scored by Michael Ihiekwe. With 88 minutes on the clock Rotherham's comeback was complete when Smith headed in a cross at the far post to level the score. Then, in the first minute of added time with the 90 minutes up, Smith headed in a second to make it 3-4 to Rotherham to take them through to the 3rd Round.
Rotherham's reward for their incredible comeback was a home tie against Hull City in the 3rd Round and sadly for the Millers they were to succumb by 2-3 against the Tigers. Arsenal went on to lift the famous old trophy that season beating Chelsea at Wembley Stadium in a coronavirus delayed Final which wasn't played until 1st August behind closed doors. It was the lowest attendance at an FA Cup Final ever but, given that it involved Arsenal, are we very surprised?
CRB Match No. 2370
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