Cray Valley Paper Mills host Charlton Athletic at Badgers Sports Ground in a First Round replay in 2023-24 FA Cup.
Victory would see Cray Valley PM or Charlton visit League Two’s Gillingham in the Second Round at Priestfield Stadium.
Team News
Cray Valley Paper Mills have no fresh injury concerns to report after their league win over Erith & Belvedere.
Charlton have no fresh injury concerns to report following their 2-2 draw at Portsmouth in League One last weekend.
James Abankwah, Karoy Anderson, Michael Hector, Ashley Maynard-Brewer and Terell Thomas are all away on international duty, so won’t feature for the Addicks in southeast London.
When is Kick-off?
Cray Valley PM host Charlton at Badgers Sports Ground in a 7:45pm GMT kick-off on Wednesday 15 November, live on BBC2 in the UK.
Stat Attack
- Cray Valley drew 1-1 in their only previous meeting against Charlton, which came in the original tie away at The Valley earlier this month.
- Charlton are visiting Badgers Sports Ground in a competitive fixture for the first time.
- Cray Valley are yet to lose a London derby in this season’s FA Cup (W4, D2), with three of their four victories having come at home.
- Charlton have won six of their ten previous FA Cup replays this century (W6, L4), although just one of their four losses came on penalties after a 2-2 draw at West Brom in January 2008.
Prediction
Unbeaten at home in eight competitive matches this season despite keeping just two clean sheets, Cray Valley certainly can’t be dismissed based on their eighth-tier status because they are a genuinely strong attacking team who will relish this replay with no fear.
Charlton meanwhile are as good in attack but they have kept just one clean sheet in their last nine matches and enter this match off the back of a gutsy draw at Portsmouth, where they came from behind twice which shows the contrast in their attack and defence.
Michael Appleton’s Addicks though are missing some key players in Maynard-Brewer, Hector, Thomas and Anderson, which means that other players like Tayo Edun must step up to fill the void because Badgers Spors Ground is a tough ground to visit.
Add in a sell-out home crowd creating a fearsome atmosphere in a tiny traditional non-league stadium then Charlton will need all of their quality, otherwise this could be one of the biggest FA Cup’s First Round giant killings in history.
Prediction: Cray Valley PM 2-1 Charlton
Result: Cray Valley PM 1-6 Charlton
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