Fa Cup Draw Dates 2016

FA Cup Draw 2016: Schedule of Dates for 1st-Round Fixtures Released

October 26, 2015

Pete Norton/Getty Images

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:

Match of the Day @ BBCMOTD
Didcot Town, the lowest-ranked team left in the #FACup are at home to Exeter City... https://t.co/ORuquElSt6 https://t.co/hnIOf1pUf8

Here's a look at the full draw:

FA Cup Draw
Home	vs.	Away	Home	vs.	Away
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
FA.com

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:

The FA @ FA
Parkinson: It's a tough draw, but we'll be ready for it when it comes. We'll pay respect and if we're not right on our game, it'll be tough.

National League North's AFC Fylde will travel to London to play Millwall, and their manager Dave Challinor didn't exactly mince his words:

The FA @ FA
.@AFCFylde boss Dave Challinor on #EmiratesFACup tie at @MillwallFC: 'They don't come much tougher, but we'll go there and look to enjoy it.

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:

Marvin Sordell @ MarvinSordell
Buzzing off that! Haha. Back to one of my old stomping grounds 😁⚽️ #FACupDraw

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:

Ladbrokes @ Ladbrokes
Carlisle fans when they hear they have been drawn away to Plymouth in the #FACup first round draw... https://t.co/H4tJLTk6ez

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.

Follow @ReverschPass