Chatham Town Women make FA cup history with their round of 16 draw

KentOnline / KMTV

In the televised draw last night they were matched against Birmingham City and the players, manager and fans were at the Bauvill stadium to hear the draw.   Finn Macdiarmid reports.

Transcript

00:00The women's FA Cup has been around for 56 years and during the last 20 of them, very

00:04select teams have dominated. Manchester City have won it three times, Chelsea six and Arsenal

00:09have a record 14 Cups.

00:12And it's not just the WSL clubs, Chatham Town women's are also breaking records. It's

00:16the first time the club has ever gotten to the round of 16 and their manager Keith Bonas

00:20is a previous winner of the Cup with Charlton Athletic.

00:24So to find out who their opponents would be in the next round, the players, manager, fans

00:28and youth teams gathered around and there were a few favourites.

00:37They had brought down higher league opposition like Sutton United and York City to get to

00:41this stage, so the pressure was on. And when the result came through, opinions were split.

00:51They were hoping for a match right here at the Beauville, but instead they'll be travelling

00:55to Birmingham. Many of the fans said they wanted Arsenal, they wanted Chelsea, maybe even

00:59a sneaky bit of Spurs, but it was not to be. And they'll be hoping to see if they can punch

01:03their ticket to the quarterfinals against the Blues. But what did the players and the

01:07manager make of their last 16 fixture?

01:09Yeah, like I said, people I've been speaking to, they're like, who do you want? And I was

01:13like, oh, I'd love Arsenal or something like that. But again, Birmingham's a big team. We'll

01:19definitely go there and try and give it a go. So yeah, we're happy with the draw.

01:21There was a few other choices we'd have preferred and we definitely would have preferred a home

01:26game for sure. But it's a top tier side and we knew we were going to get that in this round.

01:32And I'm aware of who's in the background of Birmingham. I know Hope Hale quite well. My

01:39wife played under her for England and I know the manager. So yeah, we'll look forward to it.

01:45We'll work towards it and we'll go up there and do our best.

01:47It feels good. I mean, I think mixed emotions when it first got read out. We wanted a big club,

01:52but I wanted Arsenal. We were so close to getting that ball drawn as well. But no, mixed feelings.

01:57I'm really sort of pumped to get to get Birmingham as well. I think I've got friends, close friends

02:02who plays there that I grew up with. So it'd be good to see her again. So yeah, I mean,

02:08it would have been nice to get a home draw as well. We obviously keep saying that after

02:11the attendance yesterday was incredible. We just want to build on that. So, but away it is.

02:16I'm sure our supporters will follow us.

02:17Yeah, I think the word that comes to mind first is just proud. Like I'm just so proud of like all

02:22the girls and all the staff. We've just done so well to get here. We've, you know,

02:27we've grafted a lot. So yeah, just so proud of everyone.

02:31No matter what, this cup run will go down in Kent's footballing legend

02:34as the giant killing Chats march to their next battlefield,

02:37the St Andrews Stadium in Birmingham. Finn McDermid for KMTV at the Beauville Stadium.

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