Plymouth Parkway: Non-league side looking to make FA Cup first round

Parkway manager Karl Curtis is a Tottenham Hotspur fan, so knows all about FA Cup success.

And while their status in the third tier of non-league football meant they missed out on some of the earliest qualifying rounds, his team have had a couple of tricky away ties against sides in the same league as them, before beating National League South side Horsham in the last round.

“We’ve gone to Gosport and we’ve had to win there, which isn’t easy, we’ve gone to Frome Town on the back of the club having never beaten Frome before,” he says.

“Then we’ve had Horsham who are in a league above us and beat them here.

“Now we play Chertsey here, it’s going to be a huge game on Saturday, the challenge is just as big as Horsham, it really is, albeit that they’re in our league, we know what they bring to the table.

“Because of where the club is at in step three, it’s four wins and we’ve done three, so this is our FA Cup final.

“The last game we called it our FA Cup semi-final, but now it’s all about getting to our FA Cup final and Saturday is our FA Cup final.”

So if Parkway are in Monday’s first-round draw and Argyle are pulled out with them where would they like the game to be staged?

“I think from a playing point of view probably here, but from a club point of view financially probably at Argyle,” adds chairman Russell.

“You’d obviously like to have a home draw against anybody because it’s our pitch and our lads know the pitch.

“But if you’re going to play a big club, you probably want to play them at their ground, just for the experience for the players as well.”