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Epic journey that will see six friends watch every round of the FA Cup nears its conclusion

By Tom Sargent

Regular visitors to these pages will enjoy this update on a story that first broke on Yorkshire Voice in October.

The story involves six friends from Oldham, who were planning on watching every round of the FA Cup live from the very first qualifying round right up to the final at Wembley in May.

Their incredible journey began on September 3 when Ashton United hosted Nantwich Town and they have since watched 12 rounds of football.

They have seen some unbelievable drama throughout, most notably seventh-tier Stourbridge FC being saved by the whistle in the 94th minute as the ball crossed the line at Whitehawk and then going on to beat Northampton Town of League One.

There was also the small matter of League Two Wycombe going so agonisingly close to pulling of one of the great FA Cup shocks, only to be denied by a 97th minute Spurs winner after going two goals up.

https://twitter.com/FootyFaithful/status/825388366652985355

As their trip nears its conclusion with just the semi-final (Chelsea vs Spurs, April 22) and the final to go, Yorkshire Voice caught up with the friends to discuss their highlights.

Danny Bacon, 23, who works in finance said: “My two highlights would be Whitehawk away with Stourbridge, with the 94th minute disallowed goal. We took about 10 people with us and had a massive night out afterwards, just a brilliant trip, football and everything.

“My other would be Wycombe away at Tottenham when it finished 4-3 but Wycombe took the lead twice. That definitely won in terms of football.”

Harry Kearney, from the police service and one of the organisers of the trip, added his personal highlights: “Seeing Stourbridge take over two thousand fans to Wycombe was fantastic, especially for a non-league club.”

The friends’ journey ends on May 27 at Wembley, by which point they will have been to 14 rounds of FA Cup football.

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