'Dream' FA Cup run for non-league club

Abbey Hulton United FC's vice chairman Simon Laidler said the team always wanted to play in the FA Cup

A non-league football club said it had "achieved a dream" after making it to the FA Cup draw for the first time in its 78-year history.

Abbey Hulton United FC in Stoke-on-Trent is due to take on Sutton Coldfield Town on Saturday in the first qualifying round of the tournament.

The team, part of the Midlands Football League's premier division, has already made it through two preliminary rounds, which included a 4-3 comeback victory against Coventry United.

"We never thought we'd ever get there," vice chairman Simon Laidler said and added the club had always wanted to be in the FA Cup.

"We played in the FA Vase for the first time seven or eight years ago and we thought that was a massive achievement but we always wanted to be in the FA Cup."

He said he thought the team were out of the contest when they went 3-0 down to Coventry United before half-time on 16 August.

"I thought 'that's the run over, we've had two games, we've achieved a dream' but the team weren't finished," he added. "It was a hell of an achievement."

The club was formed in 1947 and is believed to be one of the oldest in Staffordshire.

It currently has a capacity of about 1,300 at its Birches Head Road stadium and usually gets between 100 and 200 supporters turning up for home games.

It won promotion to the Midlands Football League's premier division, part of the fifth step of the football league, last season.

Secretary John Wightman, who has been involved with the club for 71 years, put its recent success down to the work of the volunteers, managers and players.

It was tough to run a small club like Abbey Hulton United, which has to "do anything it can" to raise money, he said.

"We all enjoy it, that's the thing," he added. "We have a good banter between ourselves. Making it enjoyable is the important part."

The team play Sutton Coldfield Town away at 15:00 BST.