£800,000 windfall for FA Cup minnows at Anfield

Jan 18 2008 by Our Correspondent, Liverpool Daily Post

HAVANT & Waterlooville could earn as much as £800,000 from their FA Cup fourth-round tie against Liverpool at Anfield.

Manager Shaun Gale’s Blue Square Conference side head to Merseyside for the clash on January 26 after dumping Coca-Cola League One leaders Swansea out of the competition in the shock result of the third round.

The hosts put in a sensational first-half performance, taking a 3-0 lead through Gary Monk’s own goal plus strikes from skipper Jamie Collins and boyhood Liverpool supporter Rocky Baptiste before Guillem Bauza pulled one back.

Havant goalkeeper Kevin Scriven saved Leon Britton’s penalty before the break but Jason Scotland made it 3-2 before Tom Jordan settled the tie.

Club secretary Trevor Brock expects the Hawks to use up their full ticket allocation for the lucrative Anfield clash.

He said: “We’re taking 6,000 tickets and we hope we can sell them. Looking at all the figures we could take half a million pounds plus £250-300,000 worth of add-ons.”

Gale, another boyhood Liverpool fan, described the fourth-round tie against idols as the stuff of dreams.

“It is unbelievable, dream stuff to reach the fourth round of the FA Cup,” he said.

“I would not have believed this would have ever happened a couple of months ago but that’s football.”

He added: “We have turned the dream into reality. It is a fantastic result. I am just so pleased for everyone involved in this football club.”

Gale felt Swansea had paid the price for discounting a side sat 83 places below them in the football hierarchy.

He said: “Swansea played their strongest side but they underestimated us.

“We worked on our set-pieces and they could not handle them. We could have folded after they got their second goal but we dug deep.”

Meanwhile Havant & Waterlooville are 100-1 with William Hill to beat Liverpool – the longest odds ever offered for an FA Cup match.