Paul Taylor’s maiden ‘Road To Wembley’ in this season’s Emirates FA Cup took a temporary detour in the first round qualifying.
The Chelsea fan from Doncaster 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.
And after initially planning to follow Anstey’s tie in the last round, some last-minute rearranging meant they had to head to South Yorkshire for Parkgate’s tie with Leek Town instead…
“We had to make a slight change of plan! I completely forgot I was at a music festival the day of the first round qualifying...ironically about 20 minutes from Anstey. And with Andy working away, we couldn’t attend.
“However, keen to make sure we had at least carried on and been to a game in the first qualifying round qualifying, myself and Andy went to the Parkgate v Leek Town game the following Wednesday.
“Having made a plan to go late on with Andy, it should have been a quick 25-minute journey to the ground.
“However...the stick I gave my dad for going the long route in the first tie came back to bite me as my sat nav took me elsewhere so I decided to follow my own route and ended up 20 minutes from the ground, surrounded by farm fields...karma, eh?
“Fortunately, I made it back on track and got to the ground with the game just five minutes old and we didn’t miss much in that time or the following 40 minutes after that!
FIND AN FA CUP TIE NEAR YOU“The second half was much better, with four goals, a long-range screamer and a controversial penalty in a 2-2 draw...both teams played some good stuff throughout although I thought Leek were going to edge it.
“That will definitely be the last game on the Road to Wembley without the big coat for a while, as me and Andy froze in the stand! However, the cold didn’t stop us getting a half-time pint instead of a cuppa tea!
“It was a great pitch again though, situated just next to Rotherham United's training ground, and there was a decent turnout for a cold Wednesday night.
“The drive back to Doncaster was a lot quicker too and hopefully we don’t get lost for the rest of the competition...hopefully we’ll have more luck on the longer journeys because they don’t come much closer than Parkgate.
“Hats off to Anstey, who we should have been seeing, for making it through to the second round qualifying, and well done to Leek Town for winning their replay with Parkgate by 3-0.
“We’ll be back on the planned route on Saturday with another trip to Leicestershire to see Anstey Nomads against Mickleover Sports.
“Mickleover are three steps ahead in the football ladder so I’m expecting plenty of goals or a cup shock.”
Follow Paul’s Emirates FA Cup adventures on Twitter: @PaulT_92
