A look at the Midlands Clubs 3rd round ties

Christmas and New Year may well be distant memories as people head back to work, but January does at least bring something else with it. The FA Cup. Aside the drab weather, the dark nights and the post Christmas crash diets, the magic of the FA Cup, still football’s most desired domestic trophy, does much to lift the spirits of many. And who said it was all about the small clubs?

Much of the focus on this weekend’s fixtures will be the dreams of the non leaguers, the Chase Town’s of he competition for whom the dream began a lot sooner than January.  But make no mistake, the arrival of the big boys in the 3^rd round is just as important to them as anyone else. 

Albion will face a tough test this weekend as they travel to The Valley to face a Charlton Athletic side they made easy meat of not more than a month ago at the Hawthorns.  4-2 victors in the league meeting between the two sides during December, Albion will be looking to repeat a feat they first achieved in 1931.  West Bromwich Albion were the first club to win promotion and the FA Cup in the same season.  The first of which they most definitely have their sights set on this year.   

Albion are currently four places higher in the League than Charlton, but recent form looks set to stand for nothing as the two sides battle it out in one of six all Championship 3^rd round ties.  This time last year Charlton were thwarted by Nottingham Forest.  The Baggies on the other hand progressed all the way to the 5^th round after making easy work of local rivals Wolves in a 4^th round 3-0 thumping at Molineux.  But in a replay Mowbray’s men were knocked out by Middlesbrough, in what had been their best FA Cup run since 2002 when they reached the last 16. 

Local rivals Wolves face a tough test at Molineux with non league side Cambridge United.  Currently in the middle of their worst patch of form for five years, under pressure manager Mick McCarthy will be hoping that his side can at least take some of the pressure off him by sweeping aside Cambridge.  But Wolves have experienced both highs and lows at this stage of the cup in recent years, and will be well aware that this fixture is a potential banana skin.   

Wolves most emphatic 3^rd round victory of recent times is  arguably their 3-2 victory over Premiership side Newcastle United, in  year which saw them go on to have an incredible FA Cup run, sweeping aside further Premiership sides in the process.  But last season was not so jolly for McCarthy’s men, who needed a replay to just about overcome League One side Oldham Athletic, before crashing out the competition at home in their second 3-0 loss to West Brom of the season. 

In a thrilling all Premiership tie, Aston Villa will entertain Manchester United, with certainty that one of the competitions big boys will be making an early exit.  This will be the 4^th time in seven seasons that these two sides have faced each other in the competition, with Villa crashing out in the third round this time last year at Old Trafford in a 2-1 defeat. 

Premiership new boys Birmingham City will travel to Huddersfield for their 3^rd round tie.  They may well be separated by two division, but it is actually Huddersfield who boast the better record in the competition.  The Terriers have lifted the trophy once, where as the best Birmingham can offer is the honour of runners up, twice.   

This is the first taste of the English FA Cup for Blues boss Alex McLeish, but he does boast winning the Scottish FA Cup five times as a player with Aberdeen and twice as a manager at Rangers.  Blues beat the Terriers 2-1 back in 1972 in the Quarter finals of the competition to progress to the Semi finals.  Huddersfield may well have won the Cup in 1922, but they have not progressed past the fourth round since 1999. 

For another Midlands side the stakes are very high.  Chase Town are well and truly in the spot light for this one as the Staffordshire club from the British Gas League try to overcome Championship side Cardiff City.  They are one of three non league survivors into the third round, and are said to be the lowest ranked club to ever progress this far into the competition.  But they will be hoping they can repeat the performance against Port Vale in the second round and see off yet more league opposition to progress even further.  They have bettered their record of two years ago, when they first made it into the FA Cup proper to face Oldham Athletic.  Holding the League One side initially to a 1-1 draw, they went on the lose 4-1 in the replay. 

Cardiff have fallen foul of Non League opposition before, but not for 14 years when they were knocked out of the competition by Enfield in the first round in 1994. 

In other Midlands fixtures, Walsall will entertain Millwall in an all League One clash.  Walsall are currently 11 points clear of the London side in the League on table, occupying 6^th place.  Millwall on the other hand are currently 20^th, and only three points away from slipping into the relegation places.  During the league fixture at Walsall, the Midlands side emerged 3-0 victors, veteran striker Tommy Mooney notching two goals for the Saddlers.  They will be hoping for a repeat performance to progress to round 4.