Paul Taylor continued his maiden ‘Road To Wembley’ with an Emirates FA Cup preliminary round trip to watch Anstey Nomads’ 4-1 defeat of Clipstone.
The Chelsea fan is committed to attending a tie in every round of this season’s competition and he will be joined on his journey by his father Pete, brother-in-law Andy Leslie and Andy’s dad, another Pete.
The quartet were joined in Anstey by a very special guest – and here’s how they got on in the quiet Leicestershire village:
Taylor said: “It was definitely a rough start on the Saturday morning, having been out for a few beers on Friday night!
“I managed to get out of bed around 11.30am so we would be ready for setting off for the hour-and-a-half journey to Anstey. Sunglasses on to hide the tired face!
“After my dad took us the long way to Clipstone in the extra preliminary round, we managed to take a quicker route to Anstey and got there in decent time – thanks to Google Maps – to meet Andy, his young son and his dad.
“From the area we saw, Anstey looked like a nice village and we were very impressed with the set-up at the club. The pitch was like a carpet! You could have played snooker on it so hats off to the groundsman!
“We nipped into the clubhouse to catch the end of the early game on Sky Sports – and have a quick pint – before getting into the stand for kick-off.
“As for the game itself, it was a lot more eventful than the first tie we saw; five goals, three penalties, two red cards for Clipstone and plenty of yellows!
“Overall Anstey were much the better side, but fair play to Clipstone who made a good fist of it in the second half after being 3-0 down at half-time.
“It was also great having my nephew Harry with us because that was for his first-ever game! He only turned one last month and although he may remember little of the game it was great to have him with us – and he was awake throughout!
“I’m sure he’ll catch the football bug too although, sadly, it seems he’ll be heading towards being a Spurs fan over Chelsea in future! But it was nice for him to share his first game with both his grandads as well as his dad and uncle.
“So it’s back to Anstey in the first round qualifying as they host Oadby Town on Saturday 8 September.
“Fingers crossed it’s another decent tie.”
Follow Paul’s Emirates FA Cup adventures on Twitter: @PaulT_92
