FA Cup Draw 2016: Schedule of Dates for 1st-Round Fixtures Released
The draw for the first round of the FA Cup 2016 was completed on Monday, as the 32 non-League sides still in the competition were joined by 48 teams from Football League clubs, with matches to be played on the weekend of November 7.
Some of the most eye-catching matchups include Bradford City's visit to Aldershot and Wealdstone's meeting with Colchester United. There's also Didcot Town of the Southern League, who face a daunting task at home, via Match of the Day:
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Here's a look at the full draw:
| Burton Albion | vs. | Peterborough | Portsmouth | vs. | Macclesfield Town |
| Port Vale | vs. | Maidenhead United | Sheffield United | vs. | Worcester City |
| Barnet | vs. | Blackpool | Barwell/Rushden | vs. | Grays/Welling |
| Bristol Rovers | vs. | Chesham United | Halifax Town/Guiseley | vs. | Wycombe |
| Cambridge United | vs. | Basingstoke Town | Crawley | vs. | Luton |
| Mansfield Town | vs. | Oldham Athletic | Doncaster | vs. | Stalybridge/North Ferriby |
| Altrincham | vs. | Barnsley | Didcot Town | vs. | Exeter City |
| Crewe | vs. | Eastleigh | Dagenham | vs. | Morecambe |
| Northwich/Chorley | vs. | Boreham Wood | Leyton Orient | vs. | Staines |
| Coventry City | vs. | Northampton Town | Gainsborough | vs. | Shrewsbury |
| Brackley Town | vs. | Newport County | Maidstone | vs. | Yeovil |
| Grimsby Town | vs. | St Albans City | Braintree | vs. | Oxford United |
| Hartlepool | vs. | Havant/Cheltenham | Whitehawk | vs. | Tranmere/Lincoln |
| Salford City | vs. | Notts County | Accrington | vs. | York |
| Dover | vs. | Stourbridge | Scunthorpe | vs. | Southend |
| Stevenage | vs. | Gillingham | AFC Wimbledon | vs. | Forest Green |
| Millwall | vs. | AFC Fylde | Plymouth | vs. | Carlisle |
| Aldershot | vs. | Bradford City | FC United | vs. | Chesterfield |
| Walsall | vs. | Fleetwood | Rochdale | vs. | Swindon |
| Bury | vs. | Wigan | Wealdstone | vs. | Colchester |
Preview
Bradford City made a big impression on the competition last season, beating Premier League sides Chelsea and Sunderland in back-to-back rounds to cause two massive upsets in a row.
The Bantams couldn't translate that strong form to the League One table, where they finished in seventh place, just outside the play-off spots. They now face a tricky trip to the National League's Aldershot Town.
Bradford manager Phil Parkinson knows it won't be an easy task, via the FA's official Twitter account:
National League North's AFC Fylde will travel to London to play Millwall, and their manager Dave Challinor didn't exactly mince his words:
Wealdstone and Colchester should serve up one of the top ties of the first round, with the National League South side hosting a team that only narrowly avoided relegation last season.
Former loanee Marvin Sordell will go up against his old team, having played for Wealdstone in 2008 while he was still on the books with Watford. He's certainly looking forward to the chance to go back to The Vale:
The FA cup can serve up some unfortunate pairings at times, especially this early in the competition. League Two club Carlisle United better start fuelling up the team bus, for instance, as they face a second ridiculously long trip to Plymouth this season.
The Cumbrians have already made the absurdly long trip once during the current campaign, only to get hammered 4-1 by the in-form league-leaders.
As Ladbrokes put it:
Exeter City suffered a shock exit last season at the hands of Warrington Town, who were the lowest-ranked team left in the FA Cup at the time. The team's luck in the first round has been horrendous of late, and a meeting with Didcot Town, who have never progressed to this stage of the competition before, has the potential for the ultimate Cinderella story.
The Railwaymen play in the Southern League Division One South and West, the eighth level of English football, so a home win over League Two's Exeter City would truly be the stuff of legends.
