The Shaymen are back in the Emirates FA Cup First round again this year, facing a trip to National League Premier high-flyers, Dagenham & Redbridge.
The encounter will be Town’s fourth appearance in the first round since they reformed as FC Halifax Town, and could see them reach the second round of the world’s oldest cup for the first time.
In FC Halifax Town’s first FA Cup campaign they managed to reach the final qualifying round, where they faced Conference Premier side Wrexham. To earn the tie, they impressively won away at Conference North promotion chasers Droylsden -but the tie against the Welsh outfit proved a step too far for the newly formed side as they succumbed to a 2-0 defeat.
The following season they matched this feat, again bowing out in the final qualifying round to a Conference Premier side, in the shape of Mansfield Town.
However, the 2011/12 season would see Town do one better as they were drawn at home to then League 1 leaders Charlton Athletic.
The Addicks travelled to the Shay bringing national television coverage with them. The match was also a record attendance for FC Halifax at the time, as 4601 supporters turned out for what was ultimately a disappointing 4-0 defeat. Goals from Matt Taylor, Johnnie Jackson, Danny Hollands and Bradley Pritchard proved too much for the Shaymen to handle.
2012-13 was another case of close, but not close enough. As a replay defeat at the Shay, against Lincoln City, stopped Town making the first round for another season.
The most memorable tie to date was against local rivals Bradford City in the 2014-15 season. 8042 people crammed into the Shay to see Lois Maynard put Town into a 1-0 lead early on. However, Bradford fought back, and through John Stead and Filipe Morias they got a fortunate 2-1 victory. The Bantam’s would go one to beat Chelsea 4-2 at Stamford Bridge in a run to the quarter-finals of the competition.
The most recent appearance in the FA Cup proper was just last season, as Wycombe Wanderers defeated a struggling Town side 4-0.
The Shaymen will hope to add some more FA Cup memories when they travel to Dagenham, in search of making it past the Londoners and into the second round for the 1st time.
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