U’s are in for a tough afternoon at Hayes and Yeading

By David Richardson

RED ALERT: Hayes & Yeading are flying this season

THE PROBLEM with reaching the FA Cup first round proper for three consecutive years is that the broadcasters get bored of you – but Hayes & Yeading United will still put on a show.

United have been left out in the cold this year despite landing an attractive tie against League Two side Sutton United.

Hayes hosted a big televised clash against Oxford United two years ago before being one of the highlights matches last season with Carlisle United.

But this time there will be no cameras at the Skyex Stadium as Paul Hughes’ team hope to make it third time lucky in reaching the second round.

“We’re getting demoted down the list!” laughed Hughes. “We had the big windfall from the Oxford game and then Carlisle on the red button and now we’re not on it!

“I thought they might have gone for it because of the gap between the two teams. Sutton are pretty much the blueprint for Non-League clubs.

“The success Matt Gray and Jason Goodliffe have had there has set the standard for what can be done without a huge amount of money. Sutton are the type of team that won’t take any game lightly, that’s been part of their success.”

Gray and Goodliffe return to the club they both played at with Sutton in the EFL play-off mix after winning the National League title last season.

Their consistency rivals that of Hayes who had their own promotion plans until Covid hit.

They are one of the Southern League Premier South title favourites and have started the season looking the part.

“The key word for us is consistency,” Hughes, whose team beat higher-league Dorking Wanderers on penalties in the last round after thrashing National League South Tonbridge Angels 5-0 previously, told The NLP. “We had consistency from last year and kept the bulk of the squad. Consistency helps breed consistency.

“What we’ve done well this year is we’ve approached eery game with the right attitude.

“Our experience in the previous two years of the cup against Oxford and Carlisle – two really good teams –I don’t think we fear them. That should hold them in good stead for their careers and for the next game against Sutton.”

But do Hayes have the squad depth to manage their fixture pile-up?

“No, this is where bigger budgets come in, you need to pay players to sit in the stand and not play,” added Hughes. “That’s when you do need a bigger budget to handle the amount of fixtures we’re going to have.

“We won in the League Cup on Tuesday and we could have done with losing that game really but we want to keep the winning streak and momentum going.”