The FA Cup sponsored by E.ON
First Round Proper
Saturday 11 November 2006
Winning clubs will receive £10,000
First Round Proper Draw - Click Here



With four semi-final appearances as player, Ian Baird is hoping for more Cup success now he has turned his hand to management.

The former Leeds favourite scored in their surprise semi-final defeat by eventual winners Coventry City in 1987 under manager Billy Bremner.

Now, Baird is in the middle of another FA Cup run, this time as manager of Havant and Waterlooville.

And he has the chance of causing an upset of his own when his team face Millwall in The First Round Proper this weekend.

Baird said: "We have to try our very best against them. We have a puncher's chance. After the draw last Monday I was pleased, but we had a game in the Hampshire County Cup away at Cowes on a freezing Tuesday night - that certainly brings you down to earth.

"As a player I got beat in one semi-final with Leeds when we lost in extra-time and I lost in three in Scotland.

"So my record is disappointing. in that I never won a semi-final. But then again not many players make it all the way to a semi.

"I have good memories of playing well in the Cup. I remember a goal for Leeds against QPR in the fifth round when we won 2-1 - it was a diving header too."

A combative striker with an eye for a goal himself, Baird knows with Dean Holdsworth, Fitzroy Simpson and Rocky Baptiste at the club, he has players with vast experience to draw on. But Baird is under no illusion of the size of the task.

"We have the utmost respect for them as a team and I have the utmost respect for Willie Donachie as a manger. He is a man I have come across a lot of times in my career as a player and he is well respected.

"The players all know they have a chance and they have 90 minutes to make history for Havant & Waterlooville. As long as we give it our best shot and don't let ourselves down I will be proud."

Donachie, an FA Cup winner as a coach under Joe Royle at Everton in 1995, is determined to avoid a cup shock at the hands of Baird’s men.

“What I do know is there no easy games in the FA Cup and we will give them the utmost respect because I have been an FA Cup winner and I have also played for big clubs who have stumbled over small teams. I love the FA Cup and I am looking forward to the tie.”