Haverhill Rovers and next door neighbours Haverill Borough have never met before – so The Buildbase FA Vase second round qualifying clash on Friday evening has history riding on it.
Throw in the fact that Rovers boss Ben Cowling jumped the fence from Borough earlier this year and you have yourself a potential FA Vase firecracker.
Borough are a brand-new club – they were only established in 2011 – and Cowling was one of their three founders.
Haverhill Borough v Haverhill Rovers
The Buildbase FA Vase
Second Round Qualifying
8.05pm, Friday 23 September 2016
New Croft
Winners receive £800 from prize fund
Click here for fixtures
By Charlie Talbot-Smith
And having spent time as both manager and then chairman at Borough they have risen through the ranks to the Eastern Counties League Division One.
Big brothers Rovers are a level above and Cowling – who played for Rovers for ten years before setting up Borough – cannot quite believe the fixture list has thrown them together already.
"For it to happen so soon after me coming over in the summer – and bringing four of the players with me, it’s quite an interesting one to say the least!" admits Cowling.
"Rovers parted ways with their manager and when they asked whether I would like to take over the first team – the opportunity to be the head of that footballing set-up with all those assets – junior alliance, through the U21s to the senior team – was too good to turn down.
"I wanted to manage again but it is no quick fix at Rovers – it is going to be a big rebuilding job.
"I think the departure was on friendly terms – I left with the blessing of the [Borough] committee and I wanted to ensure I left them in the best possible state.
"But this is the clubs’ first-ever meeting – the pitches are separated by a fence – the flames are being fanned of course so there is going to be a bit of spice."
One reserve clash is the only time these two sides have met before but Cowling is perfectly placed to judge where the first ever competitive meeting between the two sides will be won and lost.
And he cannot wait to see the turnout at New Croft on Friday night.
"For me the real positive of the game is that it highlights Haverhill football. If we can get up to 500 people here for the game and 20 or 30 of those come back and become regular supporters then that is great," he added.
"Every club at this level needs its fans and volunteers so this is great.
"And in a footballing sense, would I have picked this game so soon after I left? No probably not.
"But the footballing Gods have decreed it and we have to embrace it and try and treat it like any other game.
"Getting ourselves motivated is not going to be a problem so we will need to find that balance between getting fired up and doing ourselves justice."
Buildbase FA Vase history
Haverhill Rovers made the quarter-finals of The FA Vase back in the 1986-87 season but have not made it past the first round proper since the 1993-94 campaign.
New boys Borough made it through qualifying and into the first round proper two seasons ago before their run was ended by AFC Dunstable.
Did you know?
Borough have been in existence for five years now and play on the next door pitch to Rovers but the first teams have never met before – not even in a pre-season friendly. The closest they came was a reserve clash last season but this will be the first competitive meeting.
One to watch
Goalkeeper Charlie Turner was one of four players to make the jump from Borough to Rovers when manager Ben Cowling moved this summer. And in a young side with only a couple of experienced heads that has only kept one cleansheet so far this season – Turner will need to be at his best to deny his former club an historic upset.
The Prize
The winners will be among 198 teams to contest the first round proper. They will also land £800 in prize money.
