Why 2021 will be the year a non-league club progresses to the FA Cup Semi-finals, and why Boreham Wood FC is best placed to do so

Non-league clubs performed brilliantly in the First Round of the FA Cup last weekend, slaying several giants from Leagues One and Two in the process.

Eighth-tier Marine stunned League Two’s Colchester on penalties, while National League Stockport knocked out League One Rochdale, thanks to a long-range effort from Wayne Rooney’s brother.

7' | That is unbelievable from John Rooney, who looks up inside his own half, spots the 'keeper off his line and executes it. To. Perfection! What a start! https://t.co/Luvmrt9bPG

— Stockport County (@StockportCounty) November 7, 2020

With six non-League sides in the next round, we can’t help but wonder just how far a lower tier side can progress in this season’s tournament.

Winning the actual final at Wembley in May seems to be out of the question. Despite the heroics of the First Round, online betting providers still haven’t bothered giving quotes for any Non-league side to win the trophy outright, with even most League Two sides receiving quotes of as much as 1000/1.

Still, with six contenders in the mix, a few of the remaining non-league sides should be able to negotiate the Second Round, and by the time of the Third Round, many Championship and Premier League sides will already be mired in relegation and promotion tussles, with minimal focus left for the cup competitions. This could be the perfect opportunity for a Non-league side to progress to the fourth and even fifth rounds of the FA Cup.

It’s not like we haven’t seen this story before. Non-league clubs actually seem to be progressing further and further into the tournament. Indeed, of the 9 times that a non-League club has made it to the fifth round of the FA Cup since the war, 4 of these occasions have happened in the last decade.

The last team to do so (Lincoln City in 2017) even got as far as the Sixth Round, before losing 5-0 to Arsenal at the Emirates. This remains the furthest any non-league outfit has made it in the FA Cup. Lincoln City used that run as a springboard for promotion pushes to the higher tiers of English football and are now sitting pretty in League One, showing just how well-organised and funded many clubs in the National League are.

With Premier League and Championship sides increasingly prioritising their relegation, promotion and even Champions League qualification campaigns over the magic of the cup, we feel that the time is ripe for a lower tier club to make it as far as the FA Cup Semi-finals.

Luke Gerrard and the boys would have no such distractions in such a scenario and would easily bamboozle United’s backline of Maguire and Lindelof.

What’s more, a run to the semi-finals would see the Hertfordshire club play at Wembley, a mere 9.3 miles from Meadow Park. That’s quite an incentive for The Wood to try extra harder, and if the luck of the draw shines in their favour, we think history could be made, and a non-league side make it to the last 4 of the FA Cup.