The magic of (binge watching) the FA Cup … a weekend to remember for Chorley, Crawley and Marine

A 2017 survey - unsurprisingly carried out by Netflix - revealed that 73 per cent of people reported positive feelings associated with binge watching. So with that in mind, and due to my love of the FA Cup, it was my turn at the weekend. For the first time in my life, I binge watched - six FA Cup ties in two days on BT Sport and the BBC.In a bid to inject some reality into proceedings, I drafted in the staple food and drink of the terraces I grew up on in the late 70s and early 80s - some Wagon Wheels and a packet of Bovril cubes.I also delved into my memorabilia cupboard to find my 1981 FA Cup rosette - a faded, slightly tatty relic of Exeter City’s run to the quarter finals that year. I was only 12, and I fell in love with the tournament. Four decades on, I still love it.Dr. Renee Carr, a clinical psychologist, said in the Netflix survey: ‘When engaged in an activity that’s enjoyable such as binge watching, your brain produces dopamine.‘This chemical gives the body a natural, internal reward of pleasure that reinforces continued engagement in that activity. It is the brain’s signal that communicates to the body ‘This feels good. You should keep doing this!’Ok, Dr Carr. Let’s give it a go! Let’s see what ‘internal reward of pleasure’ the third round of the 140th Football Association Challenge Cup brings!

Saturday, January 9

Chorley 2 Derby 0,12.15pm (BT Sport)Eighty four places separated Chorley, 10th in the National League North, and Championship strugglers Derby County.Only once in the past 25 years had a team overcome a bigger gap to win - non-league Luton beating top flight Norwich City (at Carrow Road) in the fourth round in 2012/13.Yet due to the pandemic, it was the part-timers who kicked off as favourites against a youthful Rams XI.With his first team squad self-isolating due to positive Covid tests in the camp, Wayne Rooney sent a mixture of his club’s under-18s and under-23s to a chilly Victory Park.The England legend was also self-isolating, so youth coach Pat Lyons took charge of a side with an average age of 19 and without a single game of first-team experience between them.It was, literally, men against boys - and the men won.It was a deserved win, too, and the margin of victory could have been bigger.Non-league teams’ best chances against a professional outfit usually come via set-pieces, and it was from a corner that Connor Hall headed Chorley into an early lead.As a result, he became the first non-league player to score in the first, second and third round proper since current Hawks player Roarie Deacon did so for Paul Doswell’s Sutton in 2016/17.Derby failed to create many openings at all - they were certainly second best physically, which was no surprise. And it was also no real shock when Mike Calveley doubled the lead late on.Chorley are the first sixth tier club to reach the fourth round since Havant & Waterlooville in 2008.The Hawks were rewarded with a trip to Anfield and Chorley boss Jamie Vermiglio - a scouser and lifelong Liverpool fan - is now dreaming of a similar tie when the fourth round draw is made tonight.As with all third round ties, this was played behind closed doors. Fair play to the television companies for adding crowd sound effects, but it’s not the same. How can it be?In the absence of fans, the lifeblood of all clubs but even more so at those without large Sky cheques to cushion the financial hit, there was no time-honoured pitch invasion at the final whistle, so it was a little sad to see Chorley’s players celebrating alone. Though as they (again) warbled their way through an Adele song in the changing room, they seemed to be having the time of their lives!And well done to Ben Kay, the groundsman who slept under the protective dome Chorley had erected over the pitch, with heaters also brought in to thaw out the worst of a freezing northern night.He was pictured asleep covered by an M and Ms blanket. You’ll never see that at Old Trafford Bridge ...Exeter City 0 Sheff Wed 2,3pm (BT Sport)St James’ Park, Exeter, Devon - my spiritual home. It’s been 43 years now since I first set first inside the ground of hometown club.It’s been 40 years since we reached the FA Cup quarter-finals, for only the second time in our history (and exactly half a century after the first time).It’s also been 40 years since we last reached the last 32, and in the intervening four decades have suffered nine successive third round exits.Make that double figures now, after a missed opportunity saw the Championship strugglers deservedly progress.We could have had two early goals, but didn’t take our chances, and the Owls scored from the only shot they had in the first half after we’d fallen asleep at a free-kick.We missed a glorious chance to level in the second half, but never really threatened too much and Wednesday added a late second.My ‘lucky’ 1981 rosette obviously wasn’t that lucky and, sorry Dr Cox, my brain wasn’t producing any dopamine after watching this game.There were no ‘internal rewards of pleasure’ either.‘A blessing in disguise,’ a friend said on our Facebook message group. I disagreed - no FA Cup loss is a blessing, not when a great opportunity to be in the fourth (and fifth!) round draw was not taken.Given the option of beating Bolton in the league tomorrow or the Owls, I would have picked the cup win 24/7. A lot of fans might disagree, and that’s fine. I appreciate I might be in the minority, but I love the FA Cup.

Arsenal 2 Newcastle 0,5.30pm (BBC 1)An unimaginative, though unsurprising, choice by the Beeb for their primetime Saturday evening FA Cup tie.The first final I can vividly remember, in 1979, back when the tournament really meant something, saw the Gunners score a last-minute winner against Manchester United.Two years later, I stood on the terraces as Exeter hammered Newcastle 4-0 in a fifth round replay - still my greatest FA Cup memory.Those were two great games, and this one wasn’t. The first half was dreadful entertainment between two sides showing a combined 14 changes from their previous Premier League match.I don’t know about Bovril, I needed some Mogadon after sitting through the first 45 minutes.The second half was better, though it couldn’t have been worse, and eventually the holders progressed after extra-time.Yes, there were lots of changes - seven by each side - but I have some sympathy for the managers. The Premier League, in their wisdom, have Newcastle back in action on Tuesday and Arsenal on Thursday. It’s as if they don’t want teams to select their best sides for FA Cup ties, isn’t it?But having said that, give me games like Chorley v Derby 24/7 over ties like Arsenal v Newcastle. Why couldn’t the BBC have shown Bristol Rovers v Sheffield United or Blackpool v West Brom? Why two teams from the top flight?We have the Premier League rammed down our throats all the time. FA Cup third round day is a chance - sadly not taken here - to show us something different, to shine a spotlight elsewhere.

Manchester United 1Watford 0, 8pm (BT Sport)Another unimaginative, and totally unsurprising, choice by BT here.After all, United hold the record for successive FA Cup ties being shown live - an incredible 58 between January 2005 and January 2017.Watford’s only ever victory at Old Trafford was in 1978/79, when Graham Taylor’s third division team won 2-1 in the League Cup.Thanks to an early header from Scott McTominay, it remains the Hornets’ only success there.It wasn’t a bad game to watch, though it certainly was nowhere near a classic, and I did learn a remarkable fact.Watford boss Xisco is his club’s 15th manager in just eight and a half years. His 14 predecessors averaged just 26 games in charge. Wow! Chances are we might not see him on the touchline in an FA Cup tie again.

Sunday, January 10th

I slept well, dreaming of Ronnie Radford and youngsters running all over a muddy pitch wearing Parka jackets - I guess that’s what a day spent watching four FA Cup ties does for your brain ...

Crawley 3 Leeds United 0

(BBC1, 1.30pm)

Less than 24 hours after Chorley’s success, yet again the FA Cup delivers.The good old-fashioned romance is alive and kicking at the People’s Pension Stadium, home of Crawley Town who are currently in the only their 10th season of being a Football League club.Before the tie, Leeds boss Marcelo Bielsa had praised the FA Cup. The tournament, he claimed, ‘represents English football in its purest form.’‘From my point of view, Leeds shouldn’t lose contact with the base of football in this country because those teams give nutrients to the pyramid of the league,’ he added.‘I feel it’s healthy for the bigger teams to be able to help the smaller teams, to be generous with the smaller teams. An expression of generosity is to view them as equals.’For 90 minutes, though, Crawley and Leeds weren’t equals. Crawley were by far the better side and Leeds keeper Casilla was incredibly generous to the hosts, as he should have saved the first two goals from Nick Tsaroulla and Ashley Nadesan.Jordan Tunnicliffe added a third to leave Piers Morgan, who grew up in Sussex, to tweet: ‘What a story...@crawleytown stuffing @LUFC 3-0... one of the greatest upsets in FA Cup history.’Given the team Leeds put out, I wouldn’t go that far. But it was wonderful viewing nonetheless.As a fan of a lower league club, I’m delighted whenever David beats Goliath. I was delighted for Chorley and I’m delighted for Crawley. There’s so much more to Pele’s beautiful game than the top flight; the Premier League armchair ‘tourists’ will never understand that.Now let’s pour myself another cup of Bovril and unwrap another Wagon Wheel, and settle back to see if the cup can deliver its greatest ever giant-killing ...

Marine 0 Tottenham 5,

5pm (BBC 1)

Well, no, it didn’t. And with a gap of 161 places between the two teams, no-one can realistically have expected it to. As Marine striker Niall Cummins - the man whose extra-time goal knocked out Hawks in the previous round - said in the build-up to Tottenham’s visit: ‘David versus Goliath was a closer fight.’He was proved right, but not before team-mate Neil Kenghi was inches away from the greatest goal scored by a non-league player in the FA Cup since Radford’s blockbuster for Hereford 49 years ago.The tie was still goalless when the trainee plumber advanced from the halfway line before sending a 35-yard shot dipping against Joe Hart’s crossbar.Just inches away from a place in FA Cup immortality.A few minutes later, Tottenham were ahead against the team who just beat Barnoldswick Town in their first qualifying round tie in early September and the dream was over.Marine took a beating - not as bad as some would have predicted - but some perspective is needed. They play at the same level of the pyramid as Moneyfields, the eighth tier.Tottenham’s team was minus Harry Kane and superstars like Gareth Bale and Son Heung-min were on the bench - Bale, once the world’s most expensive player, came on in the second half - but the starting XI still contained nine full internationals boasting 402 caps.Full credit, therefore, to Jose Mourinho for respecting Marine and, in turn, the tradition of the FA Cup.Cummins was right in his summing up, but it was a day - and a cup run - Marine will never forget. For 90 minutes, the part-timers took on one of the greatest names in English sport.Only the FA Cup can do that. Trainee plumbers don’t face our leading cricketers or rugby union players.That is why the FA Cup still holds a special place in my heart. It allowed Marine to dream, and for 90 minutes to forget about the scary world we’re currently living in.It was a cup run to remember and, having covered Hawks’ second round defeat on Merseyside, I’m glad I was able to be a small part of it.For Niall Cummins and co, the dream is over. Considering the play at step 4 of the non-league pyramid, their season might now be over as well.But for Chorley and Crawley, after a weekend of great FA Cup magic, the dream goes on.I’ve eaten a whole packet of Wagon Wheels and drank seven cups of Bovril, and I’m glad I did. I can’t think of a better way to spend a weekend in lockdown.

Roll on the fourth round!