Hunt bidding for cup glory
WITH just one day to go until the biggest game in Haverhill Rovers' history, the club's leading goalscorer Marcus Hunt is confident his side can pull off a huge shock.
By Mike Bacon
WITH just one day to go until the biggest game in Haverhill Rovers' history, the club's leading goalscorer Marcus Hunt is confident his side can pull off a huge shock.
Ridgeons League First Division Rovers entertain Aldershot from the Conference in the fourth qualifying round of the FA Cup tomorrow and it is a tie that has got the Haverhill public buzzing.
Six rungs below Aldershot in the non-league pyramid, Haverhill are the lowest-ranked team still left in the competition - in fact, they were the lowest-ranked team left in the last round.
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They have done wonderfully well to get this far and more than 600 match tickets were sold on the opening day of sale earlier this week, with queues hundreds of yards long.
The magic of the FA Cup has hit the town of Haverhill - and hard.
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For Hunt, Rovers' leading scorer and a Haverhill lad, tomorrow's clash is going to be a very special day.
Hunt has been with the Hamlet Croft club since he was 16 and now, nine years later, has a chance to put his name in the history books forever.
“It is going to be a huge day,” the 11-goal leading marksmen said. “I just can't wait and I know the other lads feel the same. The whole town is buzzing.
“Usually a good FA Cup run at our level is just a couple of rounds, but we have won five already. We are all laid back, there is no pressure on us.”
Haverhill defeated Kidsgrove Athletic in the last round thanks to two goals in the final five minutes, a feat that has set up tomorrow's clash against a Shots side sitting in 10th place in the Conference.
Aldershot lost 1-0 at home to Morecambe last Saturday but will provide very stiff opposition, despite the partisan 2,000 Haverhill crowd getting behind their side.
“We can only hope a few Aldershot players don't like the look of the surroundings at Hamlet Croft,” Hunt added.
“Certainly, they are sure to be a good passing side but, hopefully, our pitch will stop that!”
Aldershot have won just one game in seven and have taken just five points from a possible 21 in the Conference. But they still find themselves only one win outside the play-off positions.
This remains, however, a worrying slump for them, and one that sparked an animated exchange between a disgruntled fan and an uncharacteristically angry Aldershot manager Terry Brown after the Morecambe game.
As Hunt added: “Some of their players have played at Old Trafford - Hamlet Croft is going to be very different.”
