While the focus of media attention is trained on the Premier League for most of the year, the FA Cup is the usually the competition where lower league sides can have their chance to make headlines and rub shoulders with the big boys.
Every side playing in the second round this weekend will be desperate to earn a place in the hat for the third round draw, where they will be joined by teams from the Premier League and Championship.
On Sunday the final four teams will be vying for a spot in the third round, with AFC Totton taking on League Two Bristol Rovers while Sutton United play League One Notts County.
Southern Premier League side AFC Totton will be playing their first ever FA Cup second tie, despite their history spanning 125 years (AFC Totton 4/1 draw 11/4 Bristol Rovers 4/6).
They have had to play five games just to get this far, beating the likes of Fleet Town, Clevedon Town, Weymouth and Bradford Park Avenue.
The game caps an exciting year for the Stags, whose momentum in the Cup has been matched in the league. They are currently in second place and are eyeing a third promotion in seven years since manager Stuart Ritchie and his assistant Sean New took over in 2004.
The club also moved into a brand new 3,000 capacity Testwood Stadium earlier this year, with all tickets unsurprisingly sold out for their clash with Rovers (Totton to win 1-0 11/1).
The fact that Bristol Rovers are also in poor form – taking just four points from their last 18 – increases expectation for an upset. The Pirates began this season among the favourites for promotion but a stuttering start currently sees them down in 18th place in the table.
They received a further blow this week with the news that captain Matt Gill has been ruled out for two months following knee surgery, the latest in a number of injuries to key first-team players that has dogged their season.
Top-scorer Matt Harrold should be fit, though. The striker is 4/1 to net first for Rovers.
Unlike Totton, Sutton United do have some pedigree in the FA Cup. Back in 1989 they defeated then first division Coventry in the third round in one of the most memorable shocks in the FA Cup’s long history.
To this day they remain the last non-league team to knock out a top-flight side and will be eager to have the chance for a repeat should they nudge past Notts County (Sutton 5/1 draw 14/5 Notts County 4/7).
They began their FA Cup adventure with a 5-1 win over Dulwich Hamlet at the start of October and have progressed a further four rounds to get this far.
The two sides last met just four years ago at the first-round stage, Richard Butcher with the only goal on that occasion for the Magpies. A repeat 1-0 win for Notts County is priced at 6/1.
Sutton are a rising force under manager Paul Doswell though. Since moving to Gander Green Lane in 2008 he has led them to two FA Cup first round appearances, the Ryman Premier League title and two Ryman Premier League play-off appearances.
They are also in the middle of a 10 match unbeaten run that sees them riding high in third place in the Blue Square South table – though they haven’t won a game since securing their place in the FA Cup second round against Kettering Town last month.
Notts County, meanwhile, are right in the hunt for a play-off place in League One but have contrasting home and away form. They are unbeaten in their past eight games at Meadow Lane but on their travels they have lost three out of their last five.
Boss Martin Allen has already described the televised game as “like back in the old days when they used to meet up in the market square and put someone in the stocks and throw stones at them or chop their head off.
“We’re lined up, we’re going in on that horse and cart, on that trailer, being led out in front of the nation.”
His side will need to be at their best if they are to avoid a medieval humiliation come Sunday evening.
Value bets: Sutton win @ 5/1
Totton 1-1 Bristol Rovers 1 @ 6/1.
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