RICHARD Thorndike believes Alvechurch’s FA Cup first round tie against Cheltenham Town is the club’s biggest game in almost half a century.
Church last played in the first round proper back in 1973/74, some 49 years ago, and went all the way to the third round on that occasion which marks the club’s best ever performance in the famous competition.
And club Chairman Thorndike has been overwhelmed by the support shown with around 1,500 Church supporters and over a dozen coaches expected to descend upon Gloucestershire this weekend.
Thorndike said: “It’s the biggest game the club has been involved in, in half a century.
“It’s the biggest game in terms of what it means to the football club and travelling away support, it’s miles bigger than anything I’ve been involved with just the prize money alone.
“We’ve never booked more than one supporters’ coach, this is something completely new, we’ve sold over 1,400 tickets, it’s a whole new world we’ve never been in before.
“It’s been surprising, it’s been delightful and it’s been challenging all at the same time – we’re in territory we’ve never been in before.
“We don’t just want a day out, we want to try and get a result.”
And some more magic was added to Church’s memorable cup run after the first round draw was staged at the club’s Lye Meadow ground last month.
Thorndike added: “We’ve been in the spotlight for the last couple of weeks, we’ve had so many news organisations and the FA Cup draw.
“All of these things we would never dream of at little old Alvechurch, it’s been really good.
“I’ve been blown away by the support, Cheltenham said they don’t normally get a full allocation of away fans for category one games, we sold 700 tickets within two hours.
“We asked for another block to be open and all of those tickets have gone as well, we would never have dreamt of this in a million years.
“We’ve never had so many orders for club merchandise, that will dwarf what we get in ticket sales, it’s hugely beneficial to the football club.
“Let’s not pull any punches, they are a League One side and if they play to their best they’ll beat us and beat us well.
“We’ve just got to go there and hope the FA Cup gods are on our side and hope everything goes our way, that’s the best we can hope for.”
Alvechurch’s clash with Cheltenham takes place on Saturday, November 5 with kick-off at 3pm at the Completely-Suzuki Stadium.
