Away On Saturday: Concord Rangers in the FA Cup

Concord Rangers 0-1 Mansfield Town

FA Cup First Round

Tuesday 25th November 2014

Liam Marsden in the thick of the action! (Photo: Chris Holloway)

When Mansfield Town drew Concord Rangers in the FA Cup in the 2014/15 season, most fans probably asked themselves the obvious question - who are they?

The Beachboys, located in Canvey Island in Essex, were making their debut in the First Round and were a Conference South outfit who'd quickly progressed through the lower reaches of non-league under the stewardship of management duo Danny and Nicky Cowley, in the previous half-a-dozen or so years. Despite a name which suggests otherwise, they actually have no links to those big jumbo jets which used to dominate skylines either!

On paper, it seemed a straightforward enough tie to navigate; a home game against a part-time outfit from two divisions lower. It certainly offered respite from what was always going to be a tumultuous League Two campaign which, after severe budget cuts the previous summer, meant survival was always the aim and every point was vital.

Of course, however, things don't always go to plan and this 'breather' from league action turned into a nightmare.

After the initial tie was postponed due to a waterlogged pitch just an hour-and-a-half or so before kick-off on Saturday 8th November, the Beachboys eventually played at Field Mill ten days later and produced a stirring, battling and committed midweek display which earned them a 1-1 draw with Jordan Chiedozie's spectacular equaliser coming pretty much straight after Danny Glozier's own goal.

In the wake of the result (and especially the underwhelming performance) and amidst internal politics which involved one director being a pain in the arse over pretty much everything, Paul Cox left the club and it meant Adam Murray was 'caretaker manager' for the replay.

A trip to the Aspect Arena, where Concord play, offered the chance to visit a new ground on a personal level, but everything about it was horrible. Adjacent to a caravan park, it was cold, it was damp, it was dark when we arrived, it wasn't inviting and the pitch didn't look great!

Conditions were absolutely ripe for a cup shock and nobody was being disrespectful to Concord Rangers now by wondering 'Who are they?' given they'd already, essentially, cost one manager his job! A trip to this particular part of Essex also brought back haunting memories of an away game at Braintree Town, around 18 months earlier, where we managed to almost screw up winning the Conference Premier!

After a lengthy down south, the team had a pre-match meal (with no thanks to the certain aforementioned director) before heading to the Aspect Arena.

Backed by a large home crowd who wanted desperately to see a cup shock, light rain just added an extra element of difficulty to proceedings as Concord began positively and forced the majority of the openings during the first 45 minutes as Matt Fry and Lewis Taaffe both went close.

Thankfully, our performance improved sufficiently enough to get the job done in the second half and after Fergus Bell had struck a post, it was Ollie Palmer, himself a player with a non-league background as we'd signed him from Havant & Waterlooville who turned out to be the match-winner - converting Rob Taylor's cross just past the hour mark to make it 1-0. Concord battled bravely, thereafter, and with some of the chances they created, they perhaps should have forced extra-time but it just wasn't to be for them.

A banana-skin had been avoided but aptly, as The Beachboys infamously sang in 'Sloop John B'... 'I wanna go home. This is the worst trip I've ever been on' probably summed up emotions at the full-time whistle. It was relief more than celebration and all the plaudits deserved to go to the hosts for what they'd achieved over the course of the two games!

Their manager, Danny Cowley, conducted himself impressively throughout - at no time more so than when news filtered through that the initial tie was postponed due to the crap weather. Others may have expressed their anger but he didn't (at least not publicly) so it came as no surprise whatsoever when he earned a move to Braintree at the end of the 2014/15 season; being successful there before going on to make his mark as one of the best managers to have emerged from non-league football in several years with everything which he achieved at Lincoln City.

At Mansfield, we lost over two games in the Second Round to Cambridge United - conceding a last-gasp equaliser in the initial tie at the Abbey Stadium which ultimately proved vital as the U's went on to meet a team called Manchester United at Old Trafford only a few rounds later.

Several players, primarily from Concord's line-up, also went on to better things. Jordan Chiedozie's goal in the first game, which brought about plenty of fanfare, saw him join Cambridge whilst Alex Woodyard and Josh Vickers later played at Lincoln. Three Mansfield players; Ollie Palmer, Lee Beevers and Matt Rhead also had spells at Sincil Bank further down the line too.