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The Magic of The FA Cup
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Don’t you worry, it’s very much alive and well
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08/11/2026
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This article has been viewed 304 times.
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by Max Bygraves
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I love the FA Cup. It’s been a long time since it gave us much to shout about but I fully believe in the romance, magic or however you want to describe it. For all the annual questioning of said magic and issues with big clubs devaluing it, every year it still produces stories and provides a reminder of why it’s so fantastic. Is this going to finally be a year where we’re part of all that?
Driving down a foggy Barnet Hill quite early on Saturday morning, I did my usual glance down the hill in the hope the Underhill floodlights would be visible. Given the conditions, even if they were still standing there it would have been hard to see them. Mind then drifting to FA Cup memories at the old place. Plenty of good ones but a particularly quirky one came to me.
Does anyone else remember the 1st Round in 2003/04 when we took on Stalybridge Celtic of the Unibond League? Martin Allen was up to all his old tricks and I have a memory of standing on the East Terrace slightly confused as a piece of classcal music played through the tannoy called ‘Conquest of Paradise’. This being symbolic of our dream of a great cup run. You don’t question Mad Dog. We threw away a two-goal lead that day to draw but did win the replay. We then got pumped at Yeovil 5-1 in Round 2 and they drew Liverpool. Conquest unsuccessful.
I had the kids in tow for this one and, knowing this well in advance, decided to try and hype up Tranmere at home as much is possible by attempting to explain the magic of the FA Cup to a 6 and 4-year-old. To pique interest, during the recent half term break, we did a bit of arts and crafts which resulted in two well-laboured tin foil FA Cups. They were very proud of my, I mean their, efforts and pretty much skipped from the car to the ground in excitement. Job done.
Big shout out to one of the stewards on the gate at this point in the chronology. My daughter’s ticket worked and she’d gone through the other side but my son’s QR code did not want it at all. Explaining the situation and the age of the temporarily separated child, he acted very quickly, looked at the tickets on my phone and opened the exit gate for us to go through. Common sense, kindness and all panic averted. Thank you.
So despite the initial groan when Tranmere at home got pulled out of that pot a few weeks back, I certainly felt quite up for this when kick off arrived. It was pleasing to see that Brennan had gone full strength, especially with no league game for a fortnight. The only notable absence being Tshimanga. Contrasting comments on how long his absence will be - let’s hope Brennan was talking worse-case scenario to BBC London post-match.
One slight negative before the game itself was the crowd. Only 1254 home fans is a poor showing. I know it wasn’t a season ticket game but tickets at half price should have had a considerably better take up. I really cannot fathom why this wasn’t a game we threw everything at marketing wise. It has been said many times before but we are simply not proactive enough in addressing this issue. Invite people in when it’s cheap and if they enjoy it, you might get better numbers at the usual rate. It’s not a difficult concept.
The game started with a bit of blood and thunder as an FA Cup tie should. Maskell was immediately in the thick of the action. At both ends of the pitch the ref allowing some early physicality. The game was fairly open and both teams showed adventure. Maskell should have done better with a chance on 10 minutes. Getting the ball out of his feet quickly still a clear area of development although I very much like what he has to offer.
Kanu showed some flashes too and had two curling efforts go close. However, his performance was a bit indicative of the game as a whole in the first half - it very much petered out. A succession of free kicks lofted in from Reeves brought nothing and it went to half time a stalemate.
Very much enjoyed the half time pint of Cobra. Not often you see that on tap and it was a decent drop. Strange to not have it with a curry but with evening plans for one, it all worked.
The only thing to really note for a good chunk of the second half was how much colder it felt than the first. There really was not much to comment on, on the pitch.
Tranmere brought Ryan Watson off the bench. I always think it’s slightly in-dignifying when an ex-player comes off the bench and gets absolutely zero reaction of either kind. About right for his Barnet career, but not even a tokenistic boo or ‘Barnet reject’ shout. Humiliating.
With no Tshimanga, it was a bit of a surprise to see Maskell taken off as part of a triple change with 20 minutes left. The strangest thing perhaps the fact we then seemed to go quite direct, having not really given Maskell much in the air.
The beauty of being a fan and not the manager shone through once more, however. Moments after some slight bemoaning of the system change and personnel on the pitch, we found a way through. Kane Smith opened his account for Barnet with a well taken a goal to break the deadlock on 80 minutes. Tin foil trophies aloft and I’ll be completely honest, absolute relief at not having to endure extra time in the progressively wintery conditions.
The goal knocked the stuffing out of Tranmere. They hadn’t offered much anyway but it never really felt like we were in any danger once we got the lead. Keen to show the players their trophies at full time, the kids wanted to venture down to the front as the clock ticked towards 90. Due to this, our view was slightly obscured as Nnamdi Ofoborh bagged a birthday goal to make sure we were Round 2 bound. Marvellous.
And yet it got even better. The icing was put firmly onto the cake when Damola Ajayi wrapped it up in the final minute of stoppage time to score his first goal for the club after the York one was given as an own goal.
The first time ever that 3 subs have come on and scored for us. Great stat. And Tranmere have now played us 4 times and lost 4 times. Not used to being someone’s bogey team.
Watching my kids stand on the barrier and proudly wave their tin foil cups at the players certainly gave me a suitable dose of FA Cup magic. We went over to the player’s entrance afterwards and once again, I can only say what a bunch of bloody nice blokes play for Barnet FC. High fives from Danny Collinge and everyone else more than friendly and generous with their time. It makes a huge difference and all helps to get youngsters hooked.
If I hadn’t made it abundantly clear already, the FA Cup is great and after a couple of years of awful far flung away draws, it was great to have it back along with a winning feeling in it. The FA Cup draw is always appointment viewing and even more so this Monday evening. The lowest ranked team at home please. A Man United away-esque 3rd Round draw one of the few things yet to happen during Brennan’s reign. We’re ball number 13 - lucky for some, hopefully!
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