For the second season in succession Fleet travel to lower-division opposition in the Third Qualifying Round of the Emirates FA Cup with Dennis Kutrieb seeking a similar outcome that led his side on the journey to the First Round Proper in 2021/22.
“First and foremost I like to win games and it ends up in the First Round Proper if you do that Saturday and again the next round,” said the Fleet boss. “Obviously the league is more important for every manager but it’s a nice time to have an FA Cup run. But it’s a tough time, too, coming into October and November with so many games so you always have one eye in one direction and one eye in another where cup games are concerned. We want to win every game like I said but it is a good opponent and we need to be ready for that. I want them to leave nothing on the pitch and everyone needs to make sure that’s the case and if so we take any result, no matter what it is.”
Barring any midweek replay, Fleet have a potential full week’s rest until a return to league action and a chance to get more players back into the fray following recent injuries to Kieran Monlouis – last season’s match winner at this stage of the Cup – and on Tuesday night Josh Wright. But the Fleet’s squad depth will allow Kutrieb to tweak his roll call at Hanwell Town without much disruption as the National South leaders look to see off what will be a challenge from the Southern League promotion contenders.
For a club new to the Southern League Premier South, having been promoted via the play-offs last season, Hanwell are flying as they plot a path towards non-league’s second tier. Currently playing at their highest level courtesy of last season’s promotion, the London side emerged from the Spartan into the Southern League in 2014, bar one fairly disastrous attempt at that level in 2006/07.
Managed by Chris Moore, a striker of some renown when Dagenham won promotion to the Football League in 2007, Hanwell are known as the Geordies due to their founders’ links with Newcastle, when the club was formed in 1920 by Tyneside exiles. They even wear black and white stripes as a result of this history, which will be on full display in this weekend’s match at the Powerday Stadium in Perivale.
The Hanwell squad will throw up relatively few familiar faces for Fleet fans. Veteran midfielder Sam Saunders has played almost 600 senior games, most notably for Dagenham, Brentford – where he currently coaches the B-team – and Wycombe Wanderers, while fellow midfielder Jack Hutchinson has experience with Wealdstone.
Hutchinson, however, will be missing on Saturday after an ankle injury in Hanwell’s midweek draw with Bracknell Town. Another club favourite, striker Gareth Chendlik, announced his departure this week.
In that up-front position, the Geordies don’t rely on any one particular goalscorer though Fleet will likely be facing a strike pairing of former Braintree and Oxford City forward Danny Rowe (namesake of the former AFC Fylde hotshot) and ex-Maldon man Shomari Barnwell who had brief spells with Dagenham and Solihull Moors.
So far this season, Hanwell have seen off Eastbourne Town and Cray Valley PM in the FA Cup and have won five out of nine games in the league. They are unbeaten away from home and their only two defeats so far in 2022/23 have come on home soil, to Truro City and Met Police.
Playing in front of an average 250-300 crowd at the Powerday Stadium, this game will arguably be the biggest cup tie in Hanwell’s history as they bid to reach the Fourth Qualifying Round for the first time. The nearest they got to that previously was in 2018/19, obtaining a replay at this same stage before losing to Leatherhead. This will also be their first cup tie against a team at National South level so is sure to capture the imagination of the home faithful.
Tickets for the match are on sale online at £1 cheaper than the on-the-day/gate price and can be purchased here.
Coach travel bookings with the Fleet Supporters Trust – which have been very popular due to the impending rail strike – close at 1600 on Friday: to secure yours, call John Burgess on 07951 610878.
