The romance of the FA Cup will be truly alive and kicking on Saturday with some intriguing second round qualifying ties involving clubs from the Pitching In Southern League.
One of the most interesting will take place at Plain Ham, where a sell-out, record crowd will see Larkhall Athletic of Division One South play host to near-neighbours, Bath City, of the Vanarama National League South.
Only three miles separate the two clubs and it’s a tie that has really captured the imagination ever since the draw was made.
"It's a very picturesque ground - a lot of people comment on that when they come here,” first-team manager Ollie Price told BBC Bristol. "It's a brilliant place to play football, but most teams moan and groan about having to get dropped off at the bottom and carry all their kit up the hill.
"Any little advantage we can get, we'll take it! It’s going to be great occasion for the club and hopefully we can give a good account of ourselves on the pitch as well as off it.”
The Larks go into the tie having won one, drawn one and lost two of their four League games so far, whilst they made progress in the Isuzu FA Trophy last weekend courtesy of a 2-0 victory over Willand Rovers.
Meanwhile their opponents sit top of the early Vanarama National League South table having lost just one of their opening nine League encounters.
Despite their close proximity geographically, on the pitch there is very little history of these clubs facing each other outside of local cup ties and pre-season friendlies.
"It’s the biggest fixture we've ever hosted in terms of numbers," added Larkhall director Tracey Hill. "For the community it's a fantastic opportunity to really make them aware of the football club in a way they possibly haven't been before.
"Before the draw came up we were all saying what would our dream be - Bath City - and we could not believe it."
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