Friday night cup fever came to the Reg Madgwick stadium last night as we entertained the Met Police from Step 4 in the Preliminary round of the FA Cup. A very healthy crowd of 234 came to watch what on paper looked like could be an entertaining game to watch – oh dear, life sometimes does not turn out that way.

It would be remiss of us not to mention the minutes of applause that was held to remember Mark Durbridge who sadly passed away seven days ago. The match programme had a very fitting tribute to Mark in it and the two teams were joined in the centre circle by players from our promotion-winning team of last season and fittingly members of Mark’s family to pay their respects to a person that we all so admired – REST IN PEACE MARK.

The match. It ended 0-0 and there was not much to report of the game as a whole.  Both teams had chances to score but this was all to no avail. The best chance for Epsom came in the 92nd minute when after a break Ade Batula hit the bar from just outside the penalty area when it looked like the ball was going to go into the back of the net. The other memorable part of the evening was the ‘Monsoon; which welcomed the final whistle as both spectators and players got a ‘real soaking’ from a tremendous storm that hit the area.

So, we do it all again at the home of the Met Police on Tuesday evening at Imber Court, Esher. This means that our away game at Balham on Wednesday is postponed, and a new date will have to be found to play that game. Please remember that ‘Cup fever’ returns to Epsom again next Friday when we entertain AFC Vardenians in the FA Vase so again another game under the lights; why not come along and watch that one as well?