FC United drawn at home to Colne in The Emirates FA Cup Second Round Qualifying

FC United will welcome old rivals Colne to Broadhurst Park on Saturday 22 September in The Emirates FA Cup Second Round Qualifying.

Colne are currently second in the Northern Premier League Division One West, which is two steps below FC United. The Lancashire club have made a 100% start to the season with six wins from six, including beating Hyde United 2-0 in the First Round Qualifying on Saturday.

FC United have met Colne four times before and have three wins to one defeat with 16 goals scored and five conceded. The two clubs first played each other in November 2005 in the North West Counties Challenge Cup in a game that was moved to Accrington Stanley to accommodate 2,762 supporters.

Our opponents ran out 2-1 winners with all three goals coming after the 87th minute in a frenetic end to the match. United were captained that day by our now caretaker-manager David Chadwick. Steve Torpey scored a wonderful free-kick in the 90th minute, which looked to have gained us a replay but just seconds later Karl Marginson’s side conceded the winning goal.

FC United’s maverick striker Rory Patterson was sent off, despite having already been substituted, after a bad tempered melee on the touchline. The incident was immortalised with a new line being added to his popular ’The Man With No Name’ terrace chant.

The Reds had to wait until January 2007 to get their revenge in the same competition and they did so with aplomb – winning 4-0 at Colne’s Holt House Stadium. Rob Nugent, Patterson, Stuart Rudd, and Dave Brown got the goals.

Two months later, United beat Colne 6-2 in front of 2,456 supporters during a North West Counties Division One match at Gigg Lane and they also won the return fixture 5-1 in April that year as the Reds charged to their second consecutive league title and promotion.

We haven’t encountered Colne for 11 years due to FC United’s rise up the leagues, so we’ll look forward to welcoming them to Broadhurst Park for what should be an entertaining FA Cup match.

Match arrangements will follow in due course.