March to the Arch 2010/2011

Welcome to SportTrades
‘March to the Arch’ new feature for the 2010/2011 football season.





Those of you, who are regular readers of the blog, will recall that last season we ran our SportTrades F.A. Cup Tracker. We started with Barkingside in the Extra Preliminary Round and ended backing Portsmouth in their Cup Final defeat against Chelsea. The tracker was also a friendly competition and we experienced the emotions similar to the actual tournament. Last seasons winner of the Tracker was Accrington Stanley with an impressive, 4 appearances during the tournament.

‘March to the Arch’ is similar, except we now follow 5 national cup competitions, the F.A.Cup, F.A.Trophy, F.A.Vase, F.A.Womens Cup and F.A.Youth Cup. We have updated our scoring system. The winner will be the team who have accumulated the most points gained through the new framework.

‘March to the Arch’ Step by Step.

1) A team will be selected in the extra preliminary round or preliminary round of each tournament connected to the feature. The selected team must be drawn at home in the first round.
2) We will follow our selected team in the relevant round of that tournament. We will then allocate points as per the scoring system in accordance with the match result and follow the winning team from that tie into the next round.
3) The winning team in each round featured will become our selected side and the process will be repeated until the final.
4) The winners of our trackers will be the team who have accumulated the most points. We will present a certificate at the end of each tournament to the victors.

‘March to the Arch’ Point System

1pt Home Defeat
2pts Away Defeat
3pts Home Defeat (After Replay)
4pts Away Defeat (After Replay)
5pts Home Win (After Replay)
6pts Away Win (After Replay)
7pts Home Win
8pts Away Win

2 bonus points will be allocated to teams who win the tournaments.

If points are equal after the final game is played, positions will be determined by *Appearances, Goal Difference, Goals Scored or if applicable, the result during the tournament, depending on whether the teams played each other. If all still equal then the position will be shared.

*Appearances applies to the number of times a team has featured in rounds throughout the tournament, replays do not count.

SportTrades selected sides to begin ‘March to the Arch’.

F.A.Cup

Once again Barkingside will kick us off in the F.A.Cup. They will entertain fellow Essex Senior League side Southend Manor in the Extra Preliminary Round in August. The winners of this tie will entertain Brentwood Town in the Preliminary Round. The victors in that round will proceed to the 1st Qualifying Round. The winners will again be at home and entertain Langford, Aylesbury United, Eton Manor or Bedford.

F.A.Trophy

Belper Town will be our first selected side in the Trophy. They will entertain Harrogate Railway Athletic in the Preliminary Round. The winner of the tie will proceed to the 1st Qualifying Round and face Ossett Albion or Salford City.

F.A.Vase

St Blazey is to be our featured side in the FA.Vase. St Blazey will play Dartmouth in the 1st Qualifying Round. The winner will go through to the 2nd Qualifying Round where they play Crediton United or Cullompton Rangers. The winners of that tie will travel to Brislington, Witheridge or Shaftesbury in the 1st Round Proper.

We will feature Barkingside, Belper Town and St Blazey in the next few weeks, with a brief history and hopefully an interview with people connected to the clubs.

We will also be including the F.A.Youth Cup and F.A.Womens Cup within March to the Arch. The final for both these competitions will not be played at the National Stadium. The scoring system for March to the Arch will also be applicable for these competitions.

We await the draw for the F.A.Womens Cup, but for the F.A Youth Cup we will be following St Albans City FC.

The Saints start their campaign in the Preliminary Round at home to Thurrock. The winner will then play in the 1st Qualifying Round when they entertain Ilford. The winner of that tie will progress to the 2nd Qualifying Round and entertain Brentwood Town, Stansted or Hitchin Town