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| January 7, 2003 | Tuesday | Ziqa’ad 3, 1423 |
Dream draw for Farnborough
LONDON, Jan 6: Minor league Farnborough Town were handed a fairytale home tie against FA Cup holders and league champions Arsenal when the draw for the fourth round was made on Monday.
Farnborough, who play in the Conference, are exactly 100 places below Arsenal in the English league pyramid and with a ground capacity of 4,900 are likely to switch the tie to Highbury for the chance of a bumper payday from the game.
Farnborough are looking to become the first non-League club for 94 years to knock-out the Cup holders.
The fourth and last time that occurred was in 1909 when Crystal Palace, then in the Southern League, beat holders Wolverhampton Wanderers 4-2 in a first-round replay.
They are also seeking to become the non-League club for 14 years to knock out a team from the top division. Sutton United were the last to do that beating Coventry City 2-1 in the third round in 1989, 18 months after Coventry had won the cup.
Farnborough manager Graham Westley said the tie would mean a lot of excitement for the club and the Hampshire town but he would be approaching it not as an occasion to enjoy but as a match to be won.
FA Cup fourth round draw
Norwich or Brighton v Plymouth or Dagenham & Redbridge Southampton v Cambridge or Millwall Walsall or Reading v Wimbledon Blackburn Rovers v Bolton Wanderers or Sunderland Rochdale v Cardiff or Coventry Fulham v Charlton Athletic Sheffield United v Ipswich Shrewsbury v Chelsea Stoke v Bournemouth or Crewe Brentford v Grimsby or Burnley Farnborough v Arsenal Manchester United v West Ham United Gillingham or Sheffield Wednesday v Leeds United Wolverhampton v Leicester Watford v West Bromwich Albion Crystal Palace v Liverpool
Ties to be played weekend of Jan 25/26.—Reuters
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