Stevenage Borough and Maidstone United have both hit FA Cup headlines in years gone by, and the pair meet in the First Round Proper on Sunday.
Stevenage – who now play in League Two – first entered The Cup in 1983 and made their mark in the competition in the late 1990s.
They reached the Third Round as a Conference side in 1997, being drawn at home to Division One Birmingham City but losing a tie switched to St Andrews 2-0.
The following year they went one better.
Stevenage v Maidstone
FA Cup First Round Proper
2pm, Sunday 9 November
The Lamex Stadium
Winners receive £18,000 from the FA Prize Fund
Still in the Conference they breezed past Carshalton Athletic, Cambridge United and Swindon Town to earn a home tie in the Fourth Round against top-flight Newcastle United.
Inspired by boss Paul Fairclough, the non-Leaguers held the Premier League giants 1-1 at home before losing the replay 2-1.
Stevenage finally gained revenge for that controversial defeat with a 3-1 home victory against the Magpies in the Third Round in 2011.
The goals that sent a 6,600 crowd wild came from Michael Bostwick, Peter Winn and an own-goal.
Before the Hertfordshire outfit established themselves in the Football League, they had become the first club to win a competitive Final at the new Wembley.
Robin Trott of Stevenage celebrates the 1-1 draw against high-flying Newcastle in 1998
Maidstone United – now a member of the Isthmian League’s Premier Division – last played in the Competition Proper as a Division Four club in 1991.
They beat Sutton United 1-0 at home in the First Round before losing 2-1 at home to Kettering Town in the Second, but it is fair to say that a lot has happened to the Kent club since then.
They were Football League members from 1989 to 1992, resigning from the League and going into liquidation in August 1992.
They reformed later that year and re-entered junior level football.
Because they had already entered that season’s FA Cup they were still included in the draw for the First Round, resulting in a bye for Swansea City.
As a non-League club – they played in the Southern League, Alliance Premier League and Football Conference – they knocked League sides Exeter City, Gillingham and Cambridge United out of The Cup.
The FA Cup First Round Proper gets under way on Friday 7 November
They also had a remarkable tie against Charlton Athletic, then in Division Two, in 1979.
It was a proud day for Stones manager Barry Watling as his boys took the field for their Third Round encounter with Charlton at The Valley.
The Southern League side were ahead in 13 minutes before goalkeeper Dickie Guy, who has gone down in Cup history as the man who stopped a Peter Lorimer penalty, was beaten by England ‘B’ cap Mike Flanagan for 1-1.
In a dramatic end to the match two Charlton strikers, Flanagan and Derek Hales, were sent off for fighting. Not an opponent, but each other.
The Division Two team won the replay 2-1 with a capacity 11,000 crowd packed into Stones’ tiny ground.
Stevenage take on Maidstone on Sunday 9 November at 2pm.
Tickets are available from £5. Click here for more information.
