Sunderland Nissan v Newcastle Blue Star
The FA Cup sponsored by E.ON
Preliminary Round
Saturday 30 August 2008
Winning clubs will receive £1,500 from The FA
Newcastle Blue Star striker Paul Brayson has been offered a deal ahead of The FA Cup Preliminary Round clash against Sunderland Nissan - score against the local rivals and get to brag on the club website!
Former Newcastle United striker Brayson was on the books of the Premier League club when they famously beat Barcelona 3-2 in the Champions League in 1997, before running the Catalan giants close in a 1-0 defeat at the Nou Camp.
And although he didn't actually play in either game, Blue Star secretary Jim Anderson admits it is a proud claim for a non-league player.
"I've been doing player profiles for our website and most of them say their best moment is making their debut for York City or somesuch," he explains.
"And then Paul comes along with stories of going to the Nou Camp with Newcastle when they played Barcelona in the Champions League.
"That's going to work people up, so I'll tell Paul that he has to score against Nissan and get us into the next round before I put his profile online!"
Anderson is expecting a tough encounter against Nissan and is hoping an England international star has not been giving some of the Blue Star players tips.
"We are old Northern League rivals with Nissan and there is local pride at stake with it being Newcastle versus Sunderland," he adds.
"I'm sure it will be a close-run game, but hopefully we will have just enough to get a good result there.
"We have a decent set-up and we play at the same stadium as Newcastle Falcons rugby team. We do see Johnny Wilkinson around, but he is a quiet guy and I hope he hasn't been giving our free-kick takers any advice, because all his efforts go over the bar!"