Rossington Main are ready to host England’s largest fully fan-owned football club FC United of Manchester from the Northern Premier League, for what will be a third straight home Emirates FA Cup tie at the Kalkut’s Community Stadium this campaign.

Rossington Main’s first appearance in 23 years in the FA Cup first round qualifying was rewarded after an initial 4-1 victory over United Counties League Premier South Moulton in the extra preliminary round at the start of August. Rosso then defeated UCL Premier North Newark Town 3-2 in the preliminary round of which, resulted in Greg Young’s side being drawn at home to one of Non-League step 3’s giants, who enter the competition at this stage.

Managed by Mark Beesley, FC United’s squad features former Premier League players Adam Le Fondre and Andre Wisdom, who may make their first-ever trip to Rossington from their club’s 4,900 capacity purpose-built stadium Broadhurst Park. FC United who were formed in 2005 as part of a protest of Malcom Glazer’s takeover of Manchester United have already climbed as high as the National League North as recently as 2019, and have enjoyed notable FA Cup runs, reaching the second round proper in 2010, and also the first round in both 2015 and 2020. The latter came during the Covid-19 pandemic, where they were beaten behind closed doors by Doncaster Rovers.

With two divisions separating the current Northern Premier League Premier leaders and Doncaster’s highest ranked Non-League club in the Northern Counties East League Premier at Non-League step 5. The last time Rosso reached both this and the second round qualifying was three years before FC United even existed and a more astonishing 13 years before their highly impressive covered on all sides home opened it’s doors. Saturday’s exciting tie marks only the eighth time Rosso have reached this stage in our 40 FA Cup campaigns during the club’s 106-year history.

While some believe league form can go out of the window when it comes to the magic of the FA Cup, aside from Rosso’s two previous round victories along with a penalty shootout win in the Isuzu FA Vase last Saturday, Young’s side have started the season with a total of five points from a possible 12 and currently sit in mid-table early on in the NCEL Premier. Following four opening wins from five, FC United have amassed 12 points from the 15 available and occupy pole position of the Premier division of the Northern Premier League.

Emirates FA Cup Top 3 Rounds Reached

FC United of Manchester:
Second round (replay), Brighton & Hove Albion (H), 0-4, 2010/11
First round, Chesterfield (H), 1-4, 2015/16
First round, Doncaster Rovers (H), 1-5, 2020/21

Rossington Main:
Fourth round qualifying, Lincoln City (H), 0-3, 1924/25
Second round qualifying, Radcliffe Borough (H), 0-7, 2002/23
Second round qualifying, Hemsworth West End (A), 4-2, 1925/26

Current Form in All Competitions

Rosso: W*DWWL
FC United: LWWWW

Top Scorers

Dylan Mantle: 4 goals
Jay Fitzmartin & Adam Le Fondre: 3 goals each

Admission

Admission into the Kalkut's Community Stadium for both home and away supporters is priced at £6 for adults, £4 for concessions, £3 for under-18s and free for accompanied under-5s. Kick-off for this fixture is at 15:00.

Tickets can be pre-purchased online until Friday 29th August at 12:00 HERE to save time on the matchday and ensure quicker access through the turnstiles. Pay-on-the-gate will still be available at the Kalkut's Community Stadium until capacity is reached.

A limited number of our popular ROSSO matchday programmes will also be available to pre-purchase online until Friday 29th August at 12:00 HERE. These will also be on sale at the ground on matchday, but we strongly recommend securing yours in advance to avoid disappointment.

Car Parking

For this fixture matchday parking system 2 will be in operation as the car park at the Kalkut's Community Stadium will be for players, officials and disabled only. Parking will be available at the adjacent The Welfare, West End Lane, Grange Lane or at Holmescarr Centre. From here supporters can walk along West End Lane and down Oxford Street, or across The Welfare Station fields to the Kalkut's Community Stadium.

Last Time Out in the Emirates FA Cup

Rosso came back from behind against Newark Town in the previous round as a double fire four minutes courtesy of both Dylan Mantle and Paul Sherburn scoring saw Rosso overcome an early setback. Despite Town’s Ryan Rushen putting the game back level later in the second half with just over ten minutes to go, substitute Elliott Andrew delivered his debut goal for Rosso in priceless fashion of which, proved to be the game winning goal on the 86 minute of the five-goal thriller.

FC United’s last appearance in the FA Cup came last season when they were narrowly defeated 1-0 away at Hyde in a replay of the first round qualifying. Despite losing in the rematch, FC United showed immense character in the initial meeting after trailing by three-goals with just over ten minutes to go, Dontai Gabidon’s finish was followed by Jay Fitzmartin and Jordan Preston both scoring in added time to see FC United comeback to secure a 3-3 draw in front of 1,229 spectators at Broadhurst Park.