FA Cup fever is sure to strike the town of Whitchurch this week as history is made at Yockings Park, with Whitchurch Alport football club competing in the first-round qualifier of the world’s most famous cup competition for the first time ever.

Alport first competed in the FA Cup three years ago but were beaten 3–1 away at Walsall Wood. Last season, they won by a single goal at Coventry Sphinx but in the next extra preliminary qualifier, they were drawn against Walsall Wood again and fell to a 2–1 defeat.

This season, remarkably, Alport have had to travel on both occasions to set up Saturday’s tie at Yockings against Leek Town.

They won at Malvern Town and a fortnight ago won handsomely against Coleshill Town despite their opponents playing at a level one league higher than Whitchurch.

So, after five successive away trips in the FA Cup, that long-awaited home draw was made three days after that 3–0 win at Coleshill.

The FA Cup was first contested for back in 1872, and it was in Alport’s 70th year of existence that the club first managed to qualify for entry – having finished high enough in the first division to do so.

Now, after a steady debut season in the Premier division, hopes are high that the club can push on again this time around.

But it will not be an easy against a side that has begun the campaign on fire with five straight wins. That said, Leek will hardly relish a trip to Yockings Park with Alport themselves in a rich vein of form.

Some are highlighting this game as one that has the potential to throw up a shock and it’s certainly one that could go either way.

Luke Goddard made the short trip to Market Drayton to assess them and is hoping to cause a shock.

Goddard said: “We’ve already had Leek watched so we’ll have certainly done our homework on them, and will prepare for the game accordingly.

“Is it too bold a statement to bill this as the most important game in the club’s history?

That may be doing a disservice to the Welsh Amateur Cup winners in the early 70s, but it’s certainly the most important one in the modern era.

“They are a big club so they will be a big test for us. My players are looking forward to the match and if we can get a partisan home crowd then that would provide a massive boost for us.

"I think it will be a really tight affair and it might be that the first goal proves pivotal in deciding the outcome. We haven’t been behind once so far so it would be a massive test of character if we were to concede first. I genuinely believe that if we can get in front then we will be able to see the game out.

"They will know all about us as Neil Baker has watched both our home games so far and I think we’ve played them in a couple of pre-season friendlies since I got here.”

Also sure to be tested are Alport’s vast array of volunteers. All beavering away in the background will be turnstile operators, programme sellers, people selling raffle tickets and golden goal tickets, stewards, groundstaff and bar and catering staff.

In addition to these areas, the club also has a tannoy announcer (Cat Hayward), a lead analyst who provides vital match footage to the management team (Gavin Pritchard) and Jordan Maclean will operate goal cam.

The hospitality suite (Alport Lounge) provides a separate area to cater for VIP guests and the media team will provide live match updates via their Twitter feed. There are a lot of areas that will need to be on point for Alport to hopefully gain a few additional supporters.

“Hopefully, this time next week we will all be congratulating ourselves on a job well done,” said the Reds manager. “We’ve got a lot of people who work so hard behind the scenes here and they do it for the love of the club.

"We will prepare for a crowd of around 500 which obviously will depend on weather conditions, but we’re better prepared than most. The new Cadstones clubhouse was officially opened on Saturday night and it was a good curtain raiser to see how we coped with a busy bar and kitchen area.

"On the pitch I’ll get the side as motivated as I can, but off it I have no doubts that we will pull it all together.”

The match gets underway at 3pm.

Whitchurch Alport will play Nuneaton Griff, who saw off the challenge of Wellington Amateurs 5-3 after extra time in the Buildbase FA Vase at Yockings Park on September 14.