FA Trophy - best season?
Posted: 07 Jan 2020, 14:53
Quite a few have been asking what is the best we’ve ever done in the FA Trophy? A direct comparison of round stages is a bit confused by the changes to the Qualifying and Proper rounds over the years (due to non-league re-organisation). So in the modern format, it is true we’ve never before got to the 2nd Round proper and we are now in the last 32. It is also true of course that we’ve never played and successfully negotiated so many rounds as this season.
Both Doncaster (1999-2000) and Alfreton (2002-03) stick in the memory as good Trophy years and were both in the 3rd Round at that time. But we actually only made it to the last 64 teams. Tamworth (2005-06) saw us reach the 1st Round in the more modern format, and this was again down to the last 64 teams.
But I reckon the best was 25 years ago in 1994-95 when there were just 16 teams left in the competition when we played at Rushden & Diamonds in the 3rd Round. The fact we were still in the competition in early March also indicates this was the furthest we’ve managed to get.
Sadly, Saturday 4th March 1995 proved to be a very disappointing day as the Yeltz were well beaten at Rushden. Here’s one of my pics from that day at Nene Park, Rushden (the rise and fall of Nene Park and Rushden is of course a whole story all of its own). After a spell of bad weather, the pitch was quite soggy with plenty of melting snow (cleared snow can clearly be seen on the touchlines). It’s not worth forensically inspecting the rare early example of an electronic scoreboard too closely though, as it already shows 4-1 after 48 minutes and we ended up losing 6-1 that afternoon.
Both Doncaster (1999-2000) and Alfreton (2002-03) stick in the memory as good Trophy years and were both in the 3rd Round at that time. But we actually only made it to the last 64 teams. Tamworth (2005-06) saw us reach the 1st Round in the more modern format, and this was again down to the last 64 teams.
But I reckon the best was 25 years ago in 1994-95 when there were just 16 teams left in the competition when we played at Rushden & Diamonds in the 3rd Round. The fact we were still in the competition in early March also indicates this was the furthest we’ve managed to get.
Sadly, Saturday 4th March 1995 proved to be a very disappointing day as the Yeltz were well beaten at Rushden. Here’s one of my pics from that day at Nene Park, Rushden (the rise and fall of Nene Park and Rushden is of course a whole story all of its own). After a spell of bad weather, the pitch was quite soggy with plenty of melting snow (cleared snow can clearly be seen on the touchlines). It’s not worth forensically inspecting the rare early example of an electronic scoreboard too closely though, as it already shows 4-1 after 48 minutes and we ended up losing 6-1 that afternoon.