City looking for only seventeen in the draw
City fans will be looking out for ball number 17 during Sunday’s FA Cup first round draw, which takes place at the Grand Connaught Rooms in London from 1.35pm.
FA Cup winners Gerard Houllier and Ray Parlour will be the men responsible for drawing the balls out of the pot – one of which will draw City’s number out of the hat, and the other picking out the Grecians’ opponents.
Houllier managed Liverpool to FA Cup victory in Cardiff in 2001, where his Reds side beat Arsenal in the final. Parlour was in the losing line-up that afternoon, but he lifted the trophy on four occasions in his Gunners career – including opening the scoring with an incredible effort from distance in the 2002 final against Chelsea.
The first round matches which will be drawn are scheduled to take place on Saturday 9th November. As well as ball number 17 – Exeter City’s number for this round – there will be other numbers of interest to Grecians supporters.
All of the League 1 and League 2 clubs enter during this round, which means that Devon rivals Plymouth Argyle (31) and Torquay United (43) are potential first-round opponents. Up the M5, Bristol City and Bristol Rovers are numbers 5 and 6 respectively.
There are also some interesting prospects amongst the 32 non-League clubs that came successfully through the fourth round qualifying on Saturday, including…
Former Grecians winger Elliott Frear will be representing Salisbury City (70) after they defeated Elliott Chamberlain’s loan side Bath City, whilst Welling United (78) – where Doug Bergqvist is currently on loan – snuck a 1-0 against Brislington, who were one of just three Step 5 non-League sides at that stage, all of which exited after being defeated.
Daventry Town (79), of the Southern League Division One Central, are the only Step 4 to definitely be in the first round, whilst Southern League Division One South & West outfit Shortwood Town will be taking on Aldershot Town in a replay to share that honour – the winner of which being ball 76.
Bury, who have been Exeter’s foil at Gigg Lane in 2008, 2011 and 2013 (winning to nil on each occasion) will be one to avoid – they are number 8 in the hat.
The draw will be broadcast live on ITV1 from 1.35pm.
Draw Numbers
1 Accrington Stanley
2 AFC Wimbledon
3 Bradford City
4 Brentford
5 Bristol City
6 Bristol Rovers
7 Burton Albion
8 Bury
9 Carlisle United
10 Cheltenham Town
11 Chesterfield
12 Colchester United
13 Coventry City
14 Crawley Town
15 Crewe Alexandra
16 Dagenham & Redbridge
17 Exeter City
18 Fleetwood Town
19 Gillingham
20 Hartlepool United
21 Leyton Orient
22 Mansfield Town
23 Milton Keynes Dons
24 Morecambe
25 Newport County
26 Northampton Town
27 Notts County
28 Oldham Athletic
29 Oxford United
30 Peterborough United
31 Plymouth Argyle
32 Port Vale
33 Portsmouth
34 Preston North End
35 Rochdale AFC
36 Rotherham United
37 Scunthorpe United
38 Sheffield United
39 Shrewsbury Town
40 Southend United
41 Stevenage
42 Swindon Town
43 Torquay United
44 Tranmere Rovers
45 Walsall
46 Wolverhampton Wanderers
47 Wycombe Wanderers
48 York City
49 Macclesfield Town
50 Hednesford Town
51 Grimsby Town
52 Worcester City or Lincoln City
53 Bradford Park Avenue or Kidderminster Harriers
54 Wrexham
55 Stourbridge
56 Southport
57 Corby Town
58 Tamworth
59 Halifax Town
60 Alfreton Town
61 Brackley Town or Barrow
62 Gateshead
63 Hemel Hempstead Town or Sutton United
64 Hereford United
65 Ebbsfleet United or Dartford
66 Barnet
67 St Albans City
68 Dover Athletic
69 Boreham Wood
70 Salisbury City
71 Gloucester City
72 Braintree Town
73 Bishop’s Stortford
74 Cambridge United
75 Biggleswade Town
76 Shortwood United or Aldershot Town
77 Luton Town
78 Welling United
79 Daventry Town
80 Staines Town or Poole Town