Newark & Sherwood United manager Romaine Graham ‘absolutely gutted’ to be missing their FA Cup first qualifying round tie at Grantham
Newark & Sherwood are looking forward to a big local derby in the FA Cup first qualifying round - but their manager won’t be there to see it.
Boss Romaine Graham says he’s “absolutely gutted” to be missing the Highwaymen’s trip to his old club Grantham on August 31.
The tie is Newark’s reward for pulling off a 2-0 upset victory over AFC Rushden & Diamonds in Saturday’s preliminary round tie and will be the clubs’ first-ever competitive meeting.
But Graham is on holiday in Jamaica, a trip that was booked before he took over as manager, leaving assistant Tristan Spencer in charge.
“It’s a family holiday that was planned before I was even thinking about management,” said Graham.
“It was all booked after I retired from football.
“The missus got in there and booked it in August because I would never, ever take time away during my career so it’s just fallen at the wrong time unfortunately, so I’ll be streaming the game from Jamaica.
“It’s a crazy feeling because it’s Jamaica but I’m absolutely gutted to be missing any game, never mind the FA Cup tie.”
Graham could be going away again at the end of the season if Newark continue their FA Cup run - only this time with his players.
The club are sharing prize money with the squad and it soon mounts up.
They’ve already earned £2,569 and there’s another £2,250 at stake in the next round.
Graham said: “They’re good, the club, they’ve said they’ll split the winnings with us, so that’s an added incentive.
“I’ll leave it to the players but I assume it will go in our end-of-season kitty.
“How far we go in the FA Cup is going to be the difference between Skegness or Ibiza!”
He added: “We’ve got a really good opportunity against Grantham.
“We’ve got a close connection with them and a couple of players have been to Grantham in the past as well.
“It’s more than winnable, that tie, to be honest. With the quality we’ve got, we’ll certainly fancy ourselves.”
Kieran Cummings struck in either half of Newark’s win over AFC Rushden & Diamonds while goalkeeper Ross Woolley saved an injury-time penalty.
Rushden play a level above the Highwaymen in the Northern Premier League Midlands Division but Graham’s side had the measure of them.
“I’d watched some footage and I could see what they were about - 3-5-2, they had big lads and were very direct,” said Graham.
“They were a traditional non-league Step 4 team, which is get the ball forward as soon as possible but my centre-halves love that, so it kind of played into our hands.
“I was a centre-half so it was a good one for me to see how the boys stayed strong the whole game. They’re a big physical team and they tried to bully us but we didn’t have any of it.
“At Step 4 and Step 5, it’s a tactic that works.
“If you put pressure on the opposition they normally crumble but we were ready for that.
“They were quite one-dimensional, so they didn’t really concern me in the first half because they didn’t try and do anything different.
“It was more of the same when we got the second goal, which just left the game open. I think we could have got even more.”
Two proved to be enough, though, with Graham paying tribute to goalscorer Cummings.
He said: “KC’s on fire at the minute.
“We’ve got a system that suits him and it’ll be a good season for him - I can feel it.
“He had moments when he was at Newark before, then he went to Shepshed where it didn’t quite work out for him.
“But I just knew if I could put my around him and get the best out of this kid, it’s going to help propel us.”
Newark & Sherwood face two games in three days over the Bank Holiday weekend.
They visit Sandiacre in the FA Vase first qualifying round on Saturday and host Melton Town in United Counties Premier Division North on Monday (both 3pm).
“The FA Cup is a free hit, a chance to make some noise, but the Vase is a competition we think we can go far in,” said Graham.
“The highest level is Step 5, the level we’re at, so we look at that and think why not?
“We’re doing well at Step 5 and although it’s a national competition, we fancy our chances against anyone.”
