Tunbridge Wells 1 Beckenham Town 4

Match 10/12/963 - Saturday, 11 August 2012 - FA Cup Extra Preliminary Round

Tunbridge Wells (0) 1 Barton 87
Beckenham Town (1) 4 Greenway 20, Nunn 48 (pen), McKone 65, Turner 88
Att. 137

Entrance: £3 Senior
Programme: £1.50
Mileage: 26/365

In nine months’ time, when the FA Cup Final is played out at a time when ITV can fit it in between Harry Hill’s TV Burp and X-Factor nobody will give a cursory thought to any of the 400 clubs that opened the competition on 11 August 2012 and should Manchester United be one of the Finalists, it will take Wayne Rooney just 13 minutes to earn the £1,000 that awaits the winner of this afternoon’s tie (and that is based on Wayne working a 35 hour week, like the rest of us).

This is where the soul of the competition remains. Six rounds remain before the First Round and a potential meeting with a giant such as Barnet at their ramshackle Underhill ground. This is where the dream began or ended for Tunbridge Wells and Beckenham supporters who dreamt the same dream as those up and down the country from Jarrow Roofing to Plymouth Parkway. Sadly, for local interest, it is the Beckenham supporters that take their dreams into the next round with a trip to Chertsey, whilst for the Wells, interest in the national competition ends before the majority of the country’s league season has begun.

Tunbridge Wells can have no complaints; their visitors were better in every department and were in no way flattered by their 4-1 winning margin. The Wells lined up without Andy Irvine and the lack of a strike partner for Jack Harris was never overcome.

Beckenham started the game well and found themselves ahead on 20 minutes, albeit with a controversial goal. A scuffed shot from just inside the box was deflected in by Nathan Paul who was in an obvious offside position. The linesman adjudged that the scorer had not touched the ball and was therefore not the scorer, but the goal credited to Adam Greenway could stand. With no bias whatsoever, there was no doubt that he had in fact touched the ball. Beckenham dominated the first half as the Wells’ long ball to the isolated Harris found no reward.

The South Londoners doubled their advantage early in the second half with a Alfie Nunn penalty and the tie was settled with 25 minutes remaining as a Danny McKone strike from 20 yards found the bottom corner. Tunbridge Wells claimed a consolation through Jason Barton with three minutes remaining but this was cancelled out when a corner from Jamie Turner deceived keeper Chris Oladogba and went straight in.

So the road to Wembley was nothing more than a cul-de-sac for Tunbridge Wells, whilst for Beckenham and 199 others the dream stays alive.