Village football club Mulbarton Wanderers saw off lower league rivals Woodford Town to settle a controversial FA Cup replay. The first meeting of the teams made international headlines after the Football Association (FA) made the rare decision to order a replay due to a referee's error. A record crowd of 806 people attended the match in Norfolk this evening, with Wanderers sealing progress thanks to a 2-0 win.
The victory brings with it £3,375 from the FA Cup prize fund and a home tie against Gloucester City in the third qualifying round of the world's oldest football competition. Mulbarton had to introduce advance ticketing because of "unprecedented demand" due to the attention. That followed a surprise decision by the FA to rule that the game should be replayed and switched to Norfolk.
London club Woodford, who play in a league below Mulbarton, lodged an appeal due to the laws of the game being applied incorrectly during the initial game, which Wanderers had won 2-1. With the match still at 0-0 in the first half, Woodford had a penalty disallowed for their players encroaching into the penalty area. However, the game was restarted with Mulbarton being awarded a free-kick, instead of Woodford being able to retake the penalty.
Speaking before the game, Danny Self, joint first team manager at Mulbarton, said: "There's all the emotions, you ask questions and you're frustrated. "Then you ask can we appeal this and you're told you can't. "Whether we agree or disagree, we are where we are and we've just got to prepare for it." Dan Robathan, a retired Premier League and FIFA referee, defended the original matchday official.
He said: "There's a misconception that when we make a decision, that we don't care which is so far from the truth. "It hits you quite personally and you don't want to have a negative effect on a game. "But you're trying to process all that at once and I can only assume he's got confused with the law in that moment." The village club, around six miles (10km) south of Norwich, has risen through local leagues in recent years and is competing at step four of the non-league pyramid for the first time this season.
The tie against Gloucester in the next round is scheduled for the weekend of Saturday 3 October. Gloucester play at step three of non-league, in Southern League Premier Division South. The winner will claim £5,625 in winnings and the losers £1,875.
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