American star Landon Donovan joined Everton on 7 January
Having just arrived fresh from Los Angeles you could forgive Everton’s on-loan forward Landon Donovan for having little clue about Saturday’s FA Cup opponents, Tamworth.
So you can imagine the surprise he’ll get when he spies a former teammate lining up opposite him at Goodison this weekend.
Lambs forward Kyle Patterson, scorer of the strike which set up this tie, played three games for Donovan’s parent club LA Galaxy back in 2009 – even assisting a goal for him on his debut.
It is the sort of remarkable quirk that football, and particularly the FA Cup, often provides.
It will be good to see Landon again,” said Patterson this week. “He is such a great player. We will have to be on our guard against someone like that, although it will be great for the players to come up against him if he plays.
He already proved last time he came over here what he can do. So I am sure he will go and do the same this time.”
Patterson’s turn with the Galaxy is about as showbiz as it gets with the Lambs and there are few players whose names are recognisable unless you are an aficionado of the non-league game, hopelessly addicted to Football Manager or, simply, a brutal football geek.
Leading the line is likely to be 35-year-old journeyman striker Iyesden Christie who has been through no less than 15 clubs.
But that experience means he is likely to get the nod according to the Tamworth Herald’s Matt Panter.
Given the occasion I think the manager may look to some of the older heads and that would include Christie,” he said. “Christie has been about and a few years ago missed the chance to play against Everton when he was at Orient. They drew Everton in the cup and lost 4-1 but he was injured so he is looking at this as a second chance.”
One name that might be ring a bell with the more stat-hungry Evertonian is that of Danny Thomas, who appeared as a substitute for Macclesfield when the Blues prevailed over the Silkmen at this stage of the competition in 2009.
But the story for Tamworth – a better footballing side than some might expect according to Panter – is more a case of who will be absent.
The one guy they will really miss is the captain, Paul Green, who is suspended after getting sent off against Luton recently,” he added. “He was at Aston Villa as a youngster, played a lot of games in the Football league and has been the player of the season so far. He will be a big miss for them.
Tamworth were a very physical and direct team under Mark Cooper a few years back but they have moved away from that and try to pass it and use the pace of their wingers to good effect. They do have big, physical guys at the back as well so it is a bit of a mixture – but they do try and play football.”
Whatever they are doing it is working for them – especially in the cup. Tamworth have now reached the third round three times in their history, and all three times have come in the past seven years.
The previous two forays into this territory were curtailed by Stoke and then Norwich – but this is by far the biggest adventure yet in the eyes of their supporters.
Panter added: “In general they get about 800 home fans every week. So to sell 5,000 for this game is a great effort. It has definitely caught the imagination of the fans.
Although the team has had some success in recent years the town hasn’t really got behind them, but this draw has really done it. The fact that it is a big Premier League club like Everton has made people take notice and they have got 35 to 40 coaches going up on top of everyone who is driving or getting the train.”
Naturally a lot of press attention has focussed on Tamworth this past week and plenty has come the way of manager Marcus Law – a man who has come from relative obscurity to stand in a dugout across from David Moyes, a man he greatly respects.
He didn’t really have a playing career so he started managing really early,” added Panter. “He is only 36 but has had nearly 1,500 games as a manager as he started really low down the pyramid. He started at Coventry Sphinx and then Racing Club Warwick but really made his name at Barwell, who went 66 games unbeaten before Kettering noticed him and took him on. He did well there but they had financial problems and Tamworth took advantage of that and brought him here.
“He has spoken very highly of David Moyes. I think he is someone that he admires greatly and looks up to and is very eager to pit his wits against him.”
So you can imagine the surprise he’ll get when he spies a former teammate lining up opposite him at Goodison this weekend.
Lambs forward Kyle Patterson, scorer of the strike which set up this tie, played three games for Donovan’s parent club LA Galaxy back in 2009 – even assisting a goal for him on his debut.
It is the sort of remarkable quirk that football, and particularly the FA Cup, often provides.
It will be good to see Landon again,” said Patterson this week. “He is such a great player. We will have to be on our guard against someone like that, although it will be great for the players to come up against him if he plays.
He already proved last time he came over here what he can do. So I am sure he will go and do the same this time.”
Patterson’s turn with the Galaxy is about as showbiz as it gets with the Lambs and there are few players whose names are recognisable unless you are an aficionado of the non-league game, hopelessly addicted to Football Manager or, simply, a brutal football geek.
Leading the line is likely to be 35-year-old journeyman striker Iyesden Christie who has been through no less than 15 clubs.
But that experience means he is likely to get the nod according to the Tamworth Herald’s Matt Panter.
Given the occasion I think the manager may look to some of the older heads and that would include Christie,” he said. “Christie has been about and a few years ago missed the chance to play against Everton when he was at Orient. They drew Everton in the cup and lost 4-1 but he was injured so he is looking at this as a second chance.”
One name that might be ring a bell with the more stat-hungry Evertonian is that of Danny Thomas, who appeared as a substitute for Macclesfield when the Blues prevailed over the Silkmen at this stage of the competition in 2009.
But the story for Tamworth – a better footballing side than some might expect according to Panter – is more a case of who will be absent.
The one guy they will really miss is the captain, Paul Green, who is suspended after getting sent off against Luton recently,” he added. “He was at Aston Villa as a youngster, played a lot of games in the Football league and has been the player of the season so far. He will be a big miss for them.
Tamworth were a very physical and direct team under Mark Cooper a few years back but they have moved away from that and try to pass it and use the pace of their wingers to good effect. They do have big, physical guys at the back as well so it is a bit of a mixture – but they do try and play football.”
Whatever they are doing it is working for them – especially in the cup. Tamworth have now reached the third round three times in their history, and all three times have come in the past seven years.
The previous two forays into this territory were curtailed by Stoke and then Norwich – but this is by far the biggest adventure yet in the eyes of their supporters.
Panter added: “In general they get about 800 home fans every week. So to sell 5,000 for this game is a great effort. It has definitely caught the imagination of the fans.
Although the team has had some success in recent years the town hasn’t really got behind them, but this draw has really done it. The fact that it is a big Premier League club like Everton has made people take notice and they have got 35 to 40 coaches going up on top of everyone who is driving or getting the train.”
Naturally a lot of press attention has focussed on Tamworth this past week and plenty has come the way of manager Marcus Law – a man who has come from relative obscurity to stand in a dugout across from David Moyes, a man he greatly respects.
He didn’t really have a playing career so he started managing really early,” added Panter. “He is only 36 but has had nearly 1,500 games as a manager as he started really low down the pyramid. He started at Coventry Sphinx and then Racing Club Warwick but really made his name at Barwell, who went 66 games unbeaten before Kettering noticed him and took him on. He did well there but they had financial problems and Tamworth took advantage of that and brought him here.
“He has spoken very highly of David Moyes. I think he is someone that he admires greatly and looks up to and is very eager to pit his wits against him.”
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