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The descent into regional football brought a first for County – entry into the FA Cup at the 2nd Qualifying Round stage. In 2001/02 our FA Cup campaign had begun, (and ended!), with a 3rd Round tie against Bolton – 5 rounds later than the day Ilkeston arrived at EP. Twelve months previously we had beaten Brighouse and then exited in the 3rd Qualifying Round at the hands of Rushall Olympic – a game writ large in the annals of infamy. It showed just how far we had fallen.

In 2014/15 the 2nd Qualifying Round saw us travel to Wetherby Road and a decent performance with goals from Richie Baker and Kristian Dennis took us into the next Round. The game against Ilkeston, (from the Northern Premier League Premier Division – a tier lower), went with the form book as a Scott Spencer strike 20 minutes or so from time took us through to a home tie against Chester, The latter was a game when ‘atmosphere’ returned to EP for the first time ages, and despite defeat was a pleasant recollection of being in the ground and getting fully engaged in a game.

The Ilkeston game gave most County fans their first sighting of a player who features in the Premier League to this day, and who within the space of a few weeks was to take pride of place on the back pages of the national press. Up front for the visitors was Che Adams. The match programme makes no reference to him, other than in the team listing, but did note that all but 4 of the Ilkeston team had progressed through the club’s Academy. A lot of money had been pumped into the Club and they were certainly to benefit from this investment. Thirty four days after turning out at EP he was signed by Sheffield United for what was reported to be a “six figure fee”. He didn’t take long to make an impact at Bramall Lane. By Chrismas he had featured in the first team a couple of times, and three weeks into January he made a far bigger impact in a Cup tie than he had at EP.

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In the League Cup semi-final second leg against Tottenham Hotspur at Bramall Lane, Adams came on as a sub after 74 minutes. Five minutes later he had scored his first goals for Sheffield United with two goals in just over two minutes, which would have taken the game to extra time had Christian Eriksen not scored for Spurs in the 88th minute to win 3–2 on aggregate.

So we ha d seen a Premier League star of the future. However, what I take from that story is that there are undoubtedly ‘gems’ to be found in non-league. I despair a lot of the time that English football at the top level is absolutely beholden to signing players from abroad, and that the opportunity for home grown players is effectively throttled. And sadly for me so many of these Academies are now following the same path. The billions that Sky has brought into the game have been squandered on creating corporate entities, and as I write this in February 2021 the spectre of a European Super League is on the horizon. I fear for the future of the English game.

Oh, and by the way, the FA Cup tie wasn’t the only time that I saw Ilkeston that season. A week after a truly forgettable season had ended with a first victory in 8 games, (over Harrogate), I spent the first part of the afternoon watching Ashton CC in Central Lancashire League action. As 2.30 turned I walked across the railway bridge to the Tameside Stadium, home of Curzon Ashton – but 200 yards away from the cricket ground. They were meeting Ilkeston in the NPL play-off final and duly went on to triumph. I knew that I would return in 2015/16 – we would be playing Curzon in a league game. Somewhere I had been so many times, but had never dreamed would be a place to watch County in league action would now be a port of call…….

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THE GAMES

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Where the date is in bold click for highlights of the game

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	Date	Venue	Ground	Competition		F	A	Att:
Sat	11/10/14	h	Edgeley Park	FA Cup (Qualifying Round 3)	W	1	0	2,562

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