Borough boss Tom Loizou and 'Side manager Gus Gulfer go way back. The pair played Sunday League football for AEL in the 1980s and have remained friends ever since.
Loizou got one over Gulfer in pre-season, recording a 2-1 friendly win against the Essex Senior League side and Saturday’s meeting at Coles Park will be the latest installment in a long-running friendly rivalry.
Haringey Borough v Barkingside
The Emirates FA Cup
Preliminary Round
3pm, Saturday 20 August 2016
Cole Parks Stadium
Winners receive £1925 from prize fund
By Tom Bodell
Click here for fixtures
"We’re great mates, but I’ll hate him on Saturday," joked Gulfer.
"He watched our game last week and I will watch them before we play on Saturday. Sometimes I go and have a coffee with him at the ground and talk about players.
"We have a rule where we don’t touch each other’s players though. He’s a great guy and he’s got a very good team. That club is going places."
In three years of working full-time at the club as manager, stadium manager, groundsman and kitman, Loizou has overseen promotion from the Spartan South Midlands Premier Division to Isthmian Division One North.
But he is far from done and, with the backing of ambitious chairman Aki Achillea, hopes to continue to make progress at a club who play in the shadow of Premier League side Tottenham Hotspur.
"The turnaround has been immense," said Loizou.
"We’ve totally turned things around. I’ve taken this on as a challenge and we’ve now got a 3G pitch which enables us to train whenever we want.
"When we had a cup run during the 2013-14 season we bought three new floodlights.
"I’ve been in football a long time but I’ve never got on better with a chairman. Everything I ask for he delivers.
"We’re trying to do the right thing here and give people a second chance in a deprived area."
Gulfer is full of admiration for the job Loizou has done at Coles Park and, as a former player, he recognises the improvement at the club.
"It’s unbelievable," he said.
"They’ve got the 3G pitch, a new bar and a new stand – the club has changed beyond all recognition and Tom has played a huge part in that."
The Emirates FA Cup preliminary round takes place this weekend
Emirates FA Cup history
Haringey reached the second round qualifying in 2013 when their progress was finally halted by a 4-1 defeat to Wealdstone.
They beat Rushden & Higham United, AFC Hayes and Wembley before being knocked out by the then Isthmian Premier Division side. Their best run in the competition came in the 1986-87 season when they went one better.
Barkingside made it to the second qualifying round during the 2007-08 campaign only to lose 2-1 to Welling United and reached the same stage in the 1998-99 competition.
Did you know?
Haringey Borough forward Ishmail Kamara has played in the Ivory Coast, America, Thailand and Sweden in a career which has seen the 28-year-old turn out for 15 clubs.
Kamara returned to England in 2012, making one appearance in League Two for Barnet, and has also won a handful of caps for Sierra Leone.
One to watch
Haringey boast a former Republic of Ireland international in their ranks in centre-back Joe O'Cearuill. He spent five years at Arsenal as a youngster before playing for Brighton & Hove Albion and Barnet in the Football League.
Up front, striker Chris Benjamin scored twice as Borough cruised past Dereham Town 3-0 on Saturday in their first league fixture of the new campaign.
The Prize
There is £1,925 on offer for the winner of the tie and a place in the first round qualifying to meet Witham Town or Eton Manor on home turf.
