Friday, 28 January 2011

GULLS ON VERGE OF CREATING HISTORY

In many ways Torquay United's FA Cup fourth round clash with Crawley Town typifies what the competition is all about.

Although there will be a number of all Premiership affairs, Saturday's encounter at Plainmoor will see two teams bidding to go further in the competition than either has gone before.

13 places separate the two sides in the football pyramid, the Gulls are currently mid-table in League Two and the Red Devils are challenging for promotion from the Blue Square Premier.

So there is a strong possibility that both teams could be playing in the same league as each other in the 2011-12 season.

Whilst Crawley have spent big during the summer to acquire players such as Richard Brodie and Matt Tubbs, who joined from York City and Salisbury City respectively, Torquay have never lost an FA Cup tie to a team from a league lower than themselves under Paul Buckle's reign.

Indeed, the Gulls have won 15 cup ties in the last six years, which includes five wins over teams in higher divisions, 2006-07 Leyton Orient League One, 2007-08 Yeovil Town League One, 2008-09 Blackpool Championship & this season they have defeated Walsall and Carlisle United of League One enroute to tomorrow's tie.

However, they will not be taking the threat posed by Steve Evans' side lightly. In 2011, Crawley have won six and drawn one of their seven matches and have defeated Swindon Town and Derby County to reach round four.

It may be a meeting of two of the lowest ranked teams left in the competition, but it has all the ingredients to be the tie of the round.