Match build-up: Kidsgrove Athletic vs Bradford Park Avenue

This Saturday it's the 4th qualifying round of the FA cup - the final hurdle for these two teams, for which getting to the 1st round proper could be a massive boost, with the potential of a big draw, and all the resulting local and national attention and financial boost this would generate.

Bradford Park Avenue themselves have fairly recently made it this far, as in 2003 they entered the 1st round draw and got a home tie against Bristol City, a match finishing in a 5-2 defeat.

The press attention in the run up to that match, and in general for this club, centres around what the club once was. BPA are a re-formed club, established in 1988, after the original club went into liquidation in 1974. In their previous form they enjoyed huge progress in the FA cup, reaching the FA cup quarter finals in 1912-13, 1919-20, 1945-46. Famous victories for them in the FA cup including winning at Arsenal 1-0, at Newcastle United 2-0 and incredibly thrashing Man City 8-2 at Maine Road.

The club in it's current form have had recent ambitions of having a big push towards becoming a league team again, having originally dropped out of the league in 1970 in their old form. They've had ups and downs recently, with two relegations in a row in the 2004/5 and 2005/6 seasons sending them down from the Conference North to the Northern Division One North. They then went back up one in 2007/8 to the Northern Premier League (level 3 of the non league pyramid).

They're hoping to get promoted from here soon having got to the play offs last season, losing 2-0 to FC United of Manchester in the play off semi finals last season. They're in 6th place as it stands, one place below the play offs, with 2-3 games in hand on 4 of the 5 teams above them.

The history of Kidsgrove Athletic is a complete opposite - whilst Bradford Park Avenue were once hitting big heights in the league and FA cup and are much lower than they once where, Kidsgrove Athletic already find themselves in a position they've never reached before, and needless to say because of this they've therefore never reached the FA cup first round. Just getting this far has been a massive achievement for them, and with an attendance average of 160 last year the prize money alone from getting this far will be a boost for the club. If they get through to the 1st round and get a big tie, the resulting financial boost would be beyond anything this club has ever experienced.

Kidsgrove Athletic officially formed in 1952. In their earlier stages there was a concentration on players being purely from the area itself, which perhaps limited the club in their progress. Eventually they began getting regular promotions in local leagues until the point where they needed to make improvements to their ground in order to make any further progress.

Kidsgrove's ground was a converted farmer's field with basic facilities. To be able to continue moving upwards they built a clubhouse, and altered it over a number of years to meet the requirements of higher leagues. Finally in 1991, after 3 attempts, the club joined the North West Counties League. The next step was installing floodlights, and this allowed the club to join Division One in 1992/3. In 1995/6 they were entered into the FA cup for their first ever time, a whole 43 years since the club was officially formed, but they lost 3-1 in the first qualifying round at Hinckley Athletic.

In their first season the club narrowly avoided relegation before setting into mid table finishes in the seasons after this. Ambitions rose after this and they reached the FA Vase semi final in 1997/8 but were not allowed to be promoted. 4 years later in 2001/2 and this time they achieved promotion to the Northern Division One South. They struggled in their early years at this level and finished bottom in 2003/4 but avoided relegation due to restructuring.

They've stayed in this division since and have been in the upper reaches in recent seasons, finishing 4th in 2009/10 but losing at Glapwell in the play off semi final, before in 2010/11 finishing 2 places outside the play offs in 7th. This season at present they're merely 16th, but this FA cup run has left them with 3-4 games in hand on most clubs in their league, so the position may deceive as wins in the games in hand would put them outside the play offs once again.

Kidsgrove Athletic's furthest progress in the FA cup until now was reaching the 3rd qualifying round in 2006/7, losing 2-1 at Haverhill Rovers.

To get a round further this year they've won in 4 rounds so far. They beat Atherstone Town 5-1 at home in the prelim round, Gornal Athletic 3-0 at home in the 1st qualifying round, before a shock victory over Boston United from two divisions above, drawing 0-0 away before beating them 2-0 at home in the replay. Next in the 3rd qualifying round they got another home draw and beat Long Buckby 2-1.

Meanwhile Bradford Park Avenue have won in 3 rounds (as they're in the division above they skip the prelim round and enter in the 1st qualifying round). They beat Harrogate Railway Athletic 8-0 at home in the first qualifying round, then won 3-1 at home to Warrington Town in the second qualifying round. They too produced a shock victory, as in the 3rd qualifying round they were drawn away at Hyde FC, who were top of the table and unbeaten in the division above. But Bradford Park Avenue by all accounts were the better team, and finally took advantage of this with a 90th minute goal to go through as 1-0 winners.

With these two clubs in what is currently named the Evo Stik League (Bradford Park Avenue in the Premier Division (non league pyramid step 3), Kidsgrove Athletic a division below in the Division One South (non league pyramid step 4)) the league sponsors will be delighted that this game guarantees that at least one of their clubs is guaranteed to be in the FA cup 1st round. 90 minutes (or possibly also a replay) decides which team this will be.