Curzon Ashton vs. Leigh Genesis preview
By Matt Lawton
September 12 2008
Leigh Genesis begin what they hope to be the long road to Wember-leigh, or at least a decent FA Cup run, tomorrow afternoon (Saturday) when they make the short hop across Lancashire to face UniBond League Division One side Curzon Ashton in the First Qualifying Round of the world's most famous knock-out competition.
After producing a terrific performance that warranted more than the point gained from Tuesday night's 1-1 draw away to Nantwich Town, Genesis make the short journey to the Tameside Stadium with a degree of confidence after a three match unbeaten UniBond Premier League run.
However, they should be mindful of how their FA Cup run ended last year almost as soon as it began when eventual First Round participants Harrogate Railway Athletic, who were ironically defeated 3-1 by Curzon in midweek, ran out 4-1 victors at Station View in September 2007, with Leigh then under the management of Stuart Humphreys.
Curzon have enjoyed a reasonably successful start to their UniBond League Division One campaign, currently in eighth position after a recent 1-0 reverse by Rossendale United was sandwich between a thumping 5-0 win over local rivals Trafford and an impressive 3-1 win over Harrogate Railway, while the Ashton-under-Lyne based side ran out 4-0 victors over Runcorn Linnets in the FA Cup Final Preliminary Round.
Leigh Genesis manager Steve Bleasdale has had to contend in recent weeks with a number of injury worries and, while strikers Richard Chetcuti and Darren Mansaram are likely to remain on the sidelines with Jordan Stepien scoring three goals in his last three games, defender Jerome Fitzgerald is battling to return to the side while left-sided man Alex Mortimer faces a race against time to be fit to face his former club.
Kick off is at 3pm at the Tameside Stadium - let's ensure that Leigh have as big an away support as possible and give yourself the chance to say that 'you were there when it all began' when Dominic Speakman leads out the Genesis side at Wembley in May!