What IF GTFC had beaten Oxford and then Tranmere? The reward would have been a visit by Swansea. And to really stretch things, what IF the Mariners had actually beaten the Swans? (And we do have a good away record.) A trip to Blackburn Rovers would have followed.
Well, yesterday Swansea were eliminated by Blackburn. Swansea, having made a few too many changes to their line-up according to the Match of the Day pundits, ended with 9 men. Sigurdsson's late challenge was embarassingly unnecessary and er... late. Straight red card. I want to draw your attention to the Blackburn attendance of 5,928; its lower than one of our home games and two of our away games so far this season. Wonder how many of those were Swansea fans, what the prices were, and how many Blackburn fans stayed indoors to watch local rivals Bolton against Liverpool on tv?
The lowest ranked side left in the 4th Round draw were (and still are) Cambridge United, who obtained a home tie against millionaires Manchester United, and earned themselves a replay with a televised 0-0 draw. Thanks to this tweet from Craig who reminded us that the Mariners beat Cambridge this time last year. https://twitter.com/casual_golfer/status/558746747783348224
Of course, the Mariners are 'concentrating on the league' now, so it was pleasing to see another away win yesterday at Nuneaton, even without The Shop in the starting lineup ;-).
Next up; Eastleigh (away) (Tuesday). They have a very similar record to us currently, but have played two games less. I know little about them, but they sit just outside of the playoff places, so whilst a win would put us (almost) joint second with Macc and Brizzle Rovers, a draw would leave us six points ahead of our opponents having played 2 more. Defeat would see Eastleigh move up to a place behind us. http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/conference/table
Anyway, while you are here, please see recent posts below on Fit for February and the Trust's FA Cup draw.
utm!
DH