FC United of Manchester FC United of Manchester FC United of Manchester Badge FC United of Manchester Pitch In

FC United will face Woodley Sports in FA Cup

Woodley Sports will be our opponents in the first qualifying round of the FA Cup with Budweiser at Gigg Lane on Saturday 17th September after the Evo-Stik Division One North club beat Bootle 3-1 this weekend in the preliminary round.

FC United have met Woodley in four competitive fixtures previously and it’s honours even with one victory each and two draws, so the Reds won’t be taking anything for granted despite plying our trade one division higher than the side from Stockport.

Two of those four encounters have taken place at Gigg Lane, in September 2007 and April 2008, and on both occasions the score finished one apiece.

The two clubs have also met in a knock-out competition once before; in December 2008 the Steelmen dumped United out of the Northern Premier League Challenge Cup 3-0 at Lambeth Grove.

However, United do have some fond memories of playing Woodley. In March 2008 a late Stuart Rudd bicycle-kick kept our promotion dream alive as the Reds went on to finish second and go up to the Premier Division via the play-offs.

Despite being established in 1970, the Steelmen, who currently lie in seventh place this season, were unable to enter the FA Cup until 1999. The addition of floodlights to Lambeth Grove in 1998 meant they were allowed to compete in the FA Vase and then the FA Cup the following year.

However, even though the ground facilities were brought up to the required standard, Woodley are still not allowed to play at home in the FA Cup due to having a synthetic pitch. On occasions that they are drawn at home, Woodley’s FA Cup matches are switched to an alternative venue. So if Woodley manage to continue their habit of securing draws with FC United at Gigg Lane, the match would not be able to be replayed at Lambeth Grove.


First Posted ~ 23:04 Sun 4 Sep 2011
News ID ~ 3745
Last Updated ~ 01:52 Tue 16 Feb 2021