They love the FA Cup in Hereford

This article originally appeared in the Guardian and was written by Matthew Hancock.

"Bring on the Cardiff!" So sang a knot of Hereford United supporters from the shadows of Edgar Street's Blackfriars End at 9.20pm last Wednesday night. It was aimed at some feisty Tranmere Rovers fans across the terrace, whose general amusement at having to visit a small club in a lower league with a corrugated roof and a sloping pitch was halted embarrassingly when Simon Johnson gave Hereford the lead. Fifteen minutes later the match was won and Hereford's Little Book of Cup Shocks had another page to be written.

Perhaps it should be Hereford's Book of Little Cup Shocks, for theirs is the Cup run that no one has noticed. The League Two side have already picked off three from League One: Leeds (in a replay at Elland Road), Hartlepool and Tranmere. In August Yeovil, also of League One, were stung 4-1 at Edgar Street in the Carling Cup. Last season's bruised pride belonged to Coventry City (Championship, humbled 3-1) and Port Vale (League One, crumbled 4-0). Hereford Cup upsets aren't always fringed by schoolboys in green Parka coats.

On Sunday Hereford play Cardiff of the Championship and the city is buzzing, as it tends to when the Cup comes to town: tickets were snapped up within hours and message boards are humming with the dismay of those who missed out. It is 11 years since the teams last met. Before that they seemed to be squaring up all the time in the lower reaches of the league and the Welsh Cup. And squaring up in the town centre afterwards too. The football statistics firm Opta tried this week to pass the game off as the "Black Mountains derby", which at least got the sense of animosity right if not the label.

Tradition has it that every Hereford Cup piece must relive a tie at Edgar Street in 1972, one that was last year voted the No1 FA Cup upset of all time by Observer readers. But let's face it, you've seen the clip often enough to know exactly what John Motson was watching when he said "Radford again ... oh what a goal!" Suffice to say, it's why Hereford loves the FA Cup. Tell someone you are from the city and they can usually tell you three things: it's a beautiful part of the world, it's notable for cattle and cider ... and Ronnie Radford once scored a screamer.

Since then other faces at Edgar Street have been as red as the shirts Newcastle wore that day: Ron Greenwood's West Ham beaten 2-1 in 1974, Arsenal (1985) and Tottenham (1996) held 1-1 and Martin O'Neill's Leicester held 0-0 in 1999 when United were in the Conference and Leicester fifth in the Premier League. And did football history turn on a barely deserved goal Clayton Blackmore scored at the Meadow End for Manchester United six minutes from time in 1990? If Mark Robins' goal at Nottingham Forest in the previous round is always cited as the one that saved Alex Ferguson, surely failure to win or even score against a lowly Fourth Division club three weeks later would have put him back under enormous pressure. As it was, Hereford was the second stepping stone to winning the trophy, and Ferguson lived - lives - to tell the tale.

Before that match against Leicester I watched a group of fans worship a swede in the centre circle, dribble it to the goal in front of the home support and whack it into the net. It was a reprise of something that supposedly brought the team luck before those 1970s Cup ties (though quite why that was the case was never really made clear). "You probably think we're bonkers," said a rather sheepish PA announcer to the presumably open-mouthed Leicester fans, "but we love the FA Cup here in Hereford." It was totally, gloriously, bonkers - but you knew what he meant.

Colin Addison, the player-manager against Newcastle, was in the stands for the Tranmere game. On the touchline in front of him stood the current incumbent, Graham Turner. If Addison was player-manager, Turner is chairman-manager, having helped save the club with a timely cash investment during their nine-year stay in the Conference. Fact: Turner is the league's second longest-serving manager - go to the League Managers' Association website and, look, there he is - tucked in between Ferguson and Arsène Wenger. But there the similarities end: with money tight, players arrive on a free transfer for a one-year contract. Turner gets them to gel and play attractive fooball with the ball on the ground. Then every summer players out of contract are lured by "bigger" clubs. A new team has to be built for free and the cycle begins again. In those circumstances finishing second in the Conference for three consecutive years and eventually regaining their League status in 2006 was a minor miracle.

This year's ones-to-watch are striker Theo Robinson and midfielder Toumani Diagouraga, a pair of smart and pacey loan signings from Watford. There was the winger Lionel Ainsworth from Derby, who impressed so much that Watford popped by to help themselves after he had spent only four months at Edgar Street. And even Trevor Benjamin, once you've finished discussing how many clubs he has played for (16), has a happy knack of picking up goals.

OK, they were beaten at Chesterfield on Monday, but I suspect Cup fever had broken out. Turner was furious and Cardiff will not have it so easy. Just ask Leeds and Tranmere. Perhaps on Sunday, when Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink and co come to town, it will be "Robinson again ... oh what a goal!" They love the FA Cup in Hereford.

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