TOWN ARE SO PROUD TO CREATE CUP FIRST

HARLESTON TOWN were born in 1885 – this week the Emirates FA Cup rolled into the Norfolk parish for the first time in their 138-year history.

- Matt Badcock

The Eastern Counties Premier Division side made their debut in football’s oldest cup competition yesterday against Kempston Rovers.

Such is the pull of the famous cup that flags have been hung from local shops not only for the build-up this week but also to welcome the trophy itself. Their twitter account may have accidentally announced the cup’s visit prematurely – nothing some hastily deleted tweets couldn’t solve – but when a club plays at Wilderness Lane, you can hardly blame them enjoying the spotlight with locals and youth teamers invited to have their picture taken.

“We knew what the reaction would be so we ensured own youth teams and own supporters got the chance to come down,” Mullin told The NLP. “I don’t take any credit, I give it all to my daughter-in-law Emma, who is our secretary, and organised everything.

“A lot of the players have come along, all the youth teams involved with the club – I think there are 700 members we had to trim down to 300! They’ve all been fabulous.