Ipswich Town will learn their FA Cup first round opposition when the draw is made at 7pm tonight. STUART WATSON takes a look at who Paul Lambert’s men could face.
THE DRAW
Television coverage starts at 7pm on BBC Two.
The draw will take place at Maldon & Tiptree's ground given the Essex club are one of the lowest ranked sides left in the competition.
NEW TERRITORY
Ipswich Town are used to entering (and, in recent times, generally exiting) this competition at the third round stage.
Relegation to League One means they now start in the first round along with the other 46 League One and League Two clubs.
This will be the first time the club has played in the first round since 1956/57. Back then they beat Hastings United 4-0 at Portman Road.
Town - who lifted the famous trophy in 1978 - have now gone almost a decade and 13 games (D4 L9) without a victory in the tournament. They've fallen at the first hurdle for the past nine seasons in succession, losing to lower-league opposition on four occasions (Preston, Portsmouth, Lincoln and Accrington).
POTENTIAL FOR A BYE
Bury's recent expulsion from the Football League means one club will be given a bye through to round two. The last ball left in the hat will receive the bye, with that club still receiving the £36,000 prize money.
WHO'S IN THE HAT?
All 47 League One and League Two clubs, 16 teams from the National League, 12 from the sixth tier (five from National League North, seven from National League South), nine from the seventh tier and two from the eighth tier...
LOWEST RANKED SIDES
There are two teams from the eighth tier of English football left.
Essex club Maldon & Tiptree are currently second in the Isthmian League North Division table, while West Sussex side Chicester City are eighth in the Isthmian League South East Division.
Maldon entered the competition at the preliminary round stage and have had to battle through five rounds to get this far, while Chicester entered a stage earlier at the extra preliminary round.
Maldon & Tiptree, who are managed by former Ipswich Town defender Wayne Brown, have close links to Colchester United and have several of the U's youngsters on loan. They've won all 16 games they've played in all competitions this season.
The Jammers have beaten Saffron Walden, Histon, Wingate & Finchley, Chertsey Town and Royston Town so far in the FA Cup. This is the first time in the club's history they have reached the first round.
Seventh-tier clubs are: Whitby Town (Northern Premier), Stourbridge Town (Southern Premier Central), Nantwich Town (Northern Premier), Haringey Borough (Isthmian Premier), Hayes & Yeading (Southern Premier), Poole Town (Southern Premier), Potters Bar Town (Isthmian Premier), Kingstonian (Isthmian Premier), Carshalton Athletic (Isthmian Premier).
POTENTIAL SUB-PLOTS
Wayne Brown and Maldon would be a good one.
How about Scunthorpe United and a reunion with Paul Hurst and Chris Doig?
Or facing one of the teams who have provided FA Cup embarrassment for Town in recent years - Accrington or Lincoln.
Chippenham Town are the club Town signed recently-capped England international Tyrone Mings from.
Billericay Town have made headlines in recent years. They are now managed by Jamie O'Hara.
POTENTIAL LONG TRIPS
In the North West: Accrington, Fleetwood (two places Town have just been), Blackpool, AFC Fylde, Chorley, Bolton, Tranmere and Rochdale (who Town travel to in the league four days earlier for a rearranged Tuesday night game).
In the South West: Bristol Rovers, Plymouth, Yeovil, Exeter and Torquay.
In the North East: Sunderland, Hartlepool, Darlington, Whitby and, not quite so far up, York and Harrogate.
LONDON CALLING?
There are plenty of non-league clubs left who are based inside the M25: Barnet, Bromley, Sutton United, Welling, Hayes & Yeading, Dulwich Hamlet, Harringey Borough, Kingstonian and Carshalton Athletic.
WHEN GAMES WILL BE PLAYED
Ties will take place on the weekend of November 9/10, with replays likely to be held a week-and-a-half later.
If Ipswich's tie did go to a replay then that would fall between scheduled league games against Oxford United (a) and Blackpool (h), though there is a strong chance that Oxford game will be postponed due to international call-ups.
Second round ties are scheduled for November 30 (kept as a free weekend).
TV POTENTIAL
Last season, four first round ties were selected for TV broadcast - one on BBC Two (Haringey Borough v AFC Wimbledon), plus three more on BT Sport (Maidenhead United v Portsmouth, Port Vale v Sunderland and Hampton & Richmond Borough v Oldham Athletic).
Following Saturday's 2-0 defeat at Accrington Stanley on Sky Sports, Ipswich have now gone 15 games without a win in front of the live television cameras.
DRAW NUMBERS
1 Accrington Stanley
2 AFC Wimbledon
3 Blackpool
4 Bolton Wanderers
5 Bradford City
6 Bristol Rovers
7 Burton Albion
8 Cambridge United
9 Carlisle United
10 Cheltenham Town
11 Colchester United
12 Coventry City
13 Crawley Town
14 Crewe Alexandra
15 Doncaster Rovers
16 Exeter City
17 Fleetwood Town
18 Forest Green Rovers
19 Gillingham
20 Grimsby Town
21 IPSWICH TOWN
22 Leyton Orient
23 Lincoln City
24 Macclesfield Town
25 Mansfield Town
26 Milton Keynes Dons
27 Morecambe
28 Newport County
29 Northampton Town
30 Oldham Athletic
31 Oxford United
32 Peterborough United
33 Plymouth Argyle
34 Port Vale
35 Portsmouth
36 Rochdale
37 Rotherham United
38 Salford City
39 Scunthorpe United
40 Shrewsbury Town
41 Southend United
42 Stevenage
43 Sunderland
44 Swindon Town
45 Tranmere Rovers
46 Walsall
47 Wycombe Wanderers
48 Boston United
49 Gateshead
50 Solihull Moors
51 Whitby town or Stourbridge
52 Hartlepool United
53 Nantwich Town
54 Chorley
55 Altrincham
56 Darlington
57 York City
58 Notts County
59 Chesterfield or Wrexham
60 Harrogate Town
61 AFC Fylde
62 Chippenham Town
63 Haringey Borough or Yeovil Town
64 Dulwich Hamlet
65 Ebbsfleet United or Woking
66 Welling United or Eastleigh
67 Bromley
68 Maidstone United
69 Maidenhead United or Wealdstone
70 Oxford City
71 Chichester City
72 Hayes & Yeading United or Poole Town
73 Maldon & Tiptree
74 Potters Bar Town or Barnet
75 Torquay United
76 Sutton United or Billericay Town
77 Dover Athletic
78 Kingstonian
79 Carshalton Athletic
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