There’s still plenty of work for the remaining sides to do, but winners on Saturday can look forward to a place in the final eight of non-League football’s most prestigious cup competition.
The Isuzu Football Association Challenge Trophy – to give the competition its full name – is undoubtedly non-League football’s premier knockout tournament, and is run by the English FA and competed for by non-League football’s highest-ranked professional and semi-professional teams.
Whilst the eligibility criteria has changed over the years, from 2008 the competition has been open to clubs playing in tiers 5–8 of the English football league system, covering the National League, the Southern League, Isthmian League, and Northern Premier League.
With non-League clubs who paid their players ineligible to compete in the now-defunct FA Amateur Cup, the FA Trophy was introduced in 1969 to give those teams a realistic opportunity for silverware, whilst providing their players & supporters with the chance to fulfil their dreams at the home of English football.
The final of the competition was held at the old Wembley from the tournament’s inception until the stadium closed in 2000, and although the final was played at a number of alternative venues whilst the iconic stadium was revamped, the showpiece occasion duly returned to the ‘new’ Wembley Stadium in 2007.
The Trophy was most recently won by Bromley, who beat Wrexham 1-0 in the 2022 final, however, their reign as holders will be a brief one, following their third-round defeat at Bath City in December.
For The Gulls, they will be looking to go one step further than they did in 2008, as they went down to Ebbsfleet in front of over 40,000 at Wembley. They certainly have the ideal man at the helm to lead that charge, with Gulls boss Gary Johnson crowning his first season back in English football – via Latvia – by winning the Trophy, as his Yeovil side beat Stevenage 2-0 at Villa Park 21 years ago.
Having dispensed with National League South sides Chippenham (3-2) and Taunton (4-2) at Plainmoor en-route to the last 16, the visit of a Barnet side riding high in 4th place in the National League will no doubt presents a tough task for United.
However, whichever Club emerges victorious from tomorrow’s winner-takes-all encounter will certainly see the ‘Road To Wembley’ begin to open up.
Isuzu FA Trophy 5th Round Fixtures
1 Hungerford Town VS Farsley Celtic
2 Maidenhead United VS FC Halifax Town
3 Southend United VS York City
4 Eastleigh VS Maidstone United
5 Torquay United VS Barnet
6 Aldershot Town VS Dorking Wanderers
7 Banbury United VS Gateshead
8 Bracknell Town VS Altrincham