Old friends face-off as Darlaston Town visit Sporting Khalsa in live BBC FA Cup clash

The Citizens reached the first qualifying round with a 3-0 win over Hednesford Town to set up the derby game with Khalsa. Live across BBC platforms, on the red-button, BBC Sport website and iPlayer, good pals and managers Rowe and Gill will battle for a place in the second qualifying round, and Darlaston boss Dean Gill is looking forward to the occasion.

He said: “I think it’s really romantic in a football way.

“Anybody that’s involved in football knows that the FA Cup is the greatest club competition in the world. To be on the TV and the BBC, it’s just a bit surreal.

“My players will have dreamt of this watching the FA Cup and you dream of being in the FA Cup.

“To be on TV and the BBC – you’re never going to do that, that’s never going to happen is it, and we are. It’s crazy.”

Separated by just 3.7 miles, the Black Country derby has brought a lot of excitement for those involved.

Moreover, with Gill and Rowe – who talk to each other daily – facing off, it makes it evermore special.

Gill said: “It’s common knowledge that me and Ian Rowe are good friends, we call twice a day.

“There’s nothing I don’t know about him, there’s nothing he doesn’t know about me.

“We don’t compete with each other, due to being in different leagues.

“We never have anything to hide and can talk to each other about thoughts, ideas and plans.

“It’s another added ingredient to the occasion that we’ve got two good friends that will try to win.”

And, Khalsa boss Ian Rowe joked, he “saw this tie coming”.

Saying: “We’d spoken about this before and with it being regionalised.

“It adds its extra spice. It’s the closest local derby we could probably have and the added spice of it being shown live on the BBC gives it that little extra edge. I’m looking forward to it. Dean’s a top guy and one of my pals in football. He knows a lot about us and we know a lot about him. Let’s get it on.”

Gill revealed why he prefers the cup occasion, with less at stake and it all to play for saying: “It’s a good fixture because there’s no league points at stake which is always a bonus for me. There’s very little pressure so I enjoy the build-up to cup games much more than I do league games.”

Despite there being no league points at stake, the FA Cup brings its added bonus – first qualifying round-winning sides will receive £2,250, while the losers earn £750.

Sporting boss Rowe hopes his side can begin a cup run which will bring in some useful cash.

He said: “Obviously we’re not going to win it but we can win a couple of games and bring in some much needed income for the club, and help the finances tick over.

“It would be nice to have a little run for the lads and the club, and to potentially play some other sides from outside the borough.”