Originally Posted by Cornish_Piskie:
“It seems to me that when the television companies are picking which matches to show, they're only interested in chasing a potential "shock" result. The abject mismatch shown on Saturday evening (Merstham vs Oxford) was given the build up that this was a "shock" waiting to happen.... if the phrase "shock result" was used once in the pre match build up it was used a hundred times..... The match finished in a 5 - 0 win for Oxford.
The match was over as a contest as soon as Oxford's first goal went in. The rest of the game was a boring, foregone conclusion.”
But that neglects to mention the other matches in the first round that did indeed have teams from the lower leagues beating or holding opposition from a higher division. Yes, Merstham vs Oxford did turn out to be a walkover but there have been many examples of this type of match delivering the goods in recent years, Warrington vs Exeter and Salford vs Notts County being two very recent examples. Some come off, some don't.
Besides, at this stage of the FA Cup, the match itself is only half the story. There's an obvious reason why that match had half an hour build-up but only five minutes' post match. It was so we could hear the story of Merstham, get a feel for the club, put it all in context and hear some interesting stories, plus of course see some professional players slumming it in tiny stadia. At this stage in the FA Cup, showcasing non-league clubs is just as important as showing a good match, if not more so. Maybe the Merstham match itself was a non-event but I was entertained enough by all the interviews and features in the build-up.
I don't really care if the matches in the first round of the FA Cup are especially interesting, I'm interested in this stage of the FA Cup to see the non-league clubs having their moment in the spotlight.