Pic: Andy Nunn
IT'S a good job for Merstham that they were drawn from the hat to face Oxford United early last Monday – because they opened the clubhouse bar for free until their name was pulled out!
The tiny Surrey village will host the former top flight U's next month in what is undoubtedly one of the ties of the round.
So small are they that Merstham's population is around 8,000 – a lot less than the capacity of Oxford's Kassam Stadium.
Manager Hayden Bird wanted the fans and players to watch the draw together after they caused a huge shock to see off Ebbsfleet United 2-1 in the fourth qualifying round.
Approach
To draw their supporters in, the club decided to not charge a penny over the bar between 7pm and when the club's name was read out on BBC2. In the end, the directors got away lightly.
The club were fourth out meaning supporters had just over 20 minutes to get the drinks in before prices were put back in place.
“It could have got rather messy and the bill could have been a big one!” said Bird, the former Carshalton and Bromley boss.
“I can't take any credit for the idea but that was a long old draw, it went on until well after 7.30pm so thankfully they not only got our name out quickly but we were lucky enough to get probably the perfect tie. It's crazy to think we were playing in the county league not so long ago and everyone knows about Oxford's history – it'll be a huge day for our club. It's really hard to take it all in.”
Bird believes the club's friendly approach could have helped them into the first round for the first time in their history.
Charlie Penny scored the winning goal against National League South big-spenders Ebbsfleet – but he left them to sign for Woking in the summer, only to return to Weldon Way last month.
“It's funny how things work out,” he said. “To play at the top level of Non-League was a huge opportunity for Charlie but for one reason or another it didn't work out for him at Woking.
Unenviable task
“If you treat players right and help them then they'll always come to you first if things don't go to plan. That was the case and we re-signed him a few weeks ago. You should never burn your bridges.”
But the manager knows he will have to hurt a few of his squad when League One Oxford visit.
“I said to them on Monday that there's 20 of you standing in front of me and I have the unenviable task of picking only 11 players for the big game,” he added.
“I don't enjoy breaking hearts, it will be difficult but they now know that every single kick counts if they want to play against Oxford.”
