Cup Dreams Go South...

And so we come to the first round of the FA Cup and all the excitement that this traditionally brings. Well, perhaps not this season as we face our second trip to Underhill in a fortnight.

(right) Deja Underhill

Since Rotherham's game against Wealdstone had been put back to the Sunday - apparently there was a function in the club bar on the Saturday that took precedence over the football - Liz joined me for the day.

We took breakfast at People's Choice near Barbican tube - this used to be very good but recently they've started to use frite-style chips which don't really stand up alongside the other ingredients of the Traditional English. 6 out of 10 - must try harder.

I suppose that as first round draws go, this was not the absolute worst we could have had - easy to get too for we in the south - but following our 3-0 defeat a fortnight ago, it was highly likely to be a case of deja defeat and as such it was only really a sense of duty that saw us attend.

That and another chance to wander along to the Lord Nelson. This time around there were just four of us - John Wilson and Geoff the only others who came along - but we had some fun playing with Bonnie the pub dog.

(left) Bonnie - throw the damn thing, will you?

Bonnie is a bit of an elderly dog but she loves playing with the regulars.

Perhaps we're now included in that group as she brought her squeaky toy for us to throw. Occasionally she'd even deign to actual go fetch it back...

The guest beer on this visit was St Austell Tribute - I've never been a huge fan of this beer but it was in superb condition on this occasion.

And not quite as many fans in the away end today - not surprising as Sunderland and Boro are both playing in the capital which will have meant that there'll have been no cheap rail tickets for those in the north.

Any hopes that the team had learnt from their last visit were snuffed out after just 20 mins when some shoddy defending saw veteran Paul Furlong slot the ball past Liversedge.

Following that there was some improvement for the remainder of the half as we pressed forward but there were quite a few poor individual displays - Davis was probably the worst and was to blame for most of the lost possession.

Despite being told that Moses Barnett had a great game in our sole win this season, I've yet to be convinced after he had another poor game at Underhill. It was his last game on loan and I'd be surprised if we see him again.

One-nil going into the break wasn't too bad but that soon changed as a simple tap in for Micah Hyde minutes after the restart more or less sealed it for the home team.

(right) Geoff walking backwards to Underhill (for Christmas?)

A third goal hammered the nail into the coffin but unlike our last visit, we didn't leave. We were rewarded four our loyalty as Staunton made a double subtitution - Josh Gray and Mor Diop coming on - and we started to show some concerted efforts up front.

Our finishing on the whole was wayward - Thomas and Collins especially - but Diop showed how it should be done with a close range effort which he slid past the Barnet keeper.

Unfortunately Diop then faded badly - presumably he's not yet match fit - and so did any lingering hopes of getting another goal back, especially after a couple of good saves from the home keeper.

So we're back to concentrating on the league - not a total surprise to any of us but it has the one advantage that we now have a free weekend at the end of the month.

We headed back into town after the game and passed through a manic Kings Cross to the Betjeman Arms at St Pancras.

Apparently Union, the new premium beer from Sambrooks, was supposed to be available but it wasn't. Instead I stuck to the Betjeman Ale whilst John has his first ever taste of Wandle Ale, Sambrooks' current and only offering - still a bit nondescript in our opinion and not dissimilar to Youngs Ordinary. We look forward to tasting the Union.

The Betjeman Arms was starting to get busy with England rugby fans and Sunderland fans all getting a few beers before catching trains home. Once we'd caught up with the football scores we headed for the calm and tranquility of the King Charles I.

Unfortunately we'd narrowly missed out on the Brodies Special which was being served direct from the barrel but their IPA is on tap and for a 4.0% beer it's a very nice drop - well hoppy and a decent body.

We try to get something to eat but the scotch eggs are all gone - there are mussels and pickled eggs but these don't tempt Liz at all. Instead the kindly barman shares some home-made pork scratchings that a customer has made. Crackling stuff.

We have a few more IPAs before ordering a takeaway from a nearby curry house and then we head on home. It's an early night for Liz as she's got her own game tomorrow - for her the dream lives on whilst we remain firmly mired in our league nightmare.