On Saturday, the Road to Wembley starts early for Hednesford when they visit Darlaston Town (1874) in the preliminary round of the Emirates FA Cup.

Darlaston play in the Premier Division of the Midland League at step 5 and have drawn their opening two league games, 1-1 at Uttoxeter Town and 2-2 at Lichfield City. In the extra preliminary round of the FA Cup they won at Racing Club Warwick to set up Saturday’s encounter.

The original Darlaston football club was formed in 1874 and were founder members of the West Midlands Regional League (WMRL) in 1962 where Hednesford and Darlaston were rivals for many seasons. They folded in 2013 but a year later re-formed and were accepted into the WMRL Division Two.

Darlaston Town (1874) play at The Paycare Stadium, Bentley Road North, Bentley, West Midlands WS2 0EA. This will be the first competitive game between the two clubs although in a pre-season friendly in 2019 at Keys Park, Hednesford beat Darlaston 1-0 thanks to a goal from Tom Elliott.

The game will kick off at 3pm with gates opening at 1pm. Admission is £7 adults, £5 concessions with under 10s free. Should the game end in a draw then the replay would be at Keys Park on Tuesday 22nd August at 7.45pm meaning the scheduled league game against Kidsgrove would be postponed. Kidsgrove are also in FA Cup action on Saturday against Sutton Coldfield Town.