Minnows relishing FA Cup visit of mighty AFC Wimbledon

Rarely can the FA Cup have so quickly bestowed its riches on a newcomer than it has on Debenham Leisure Centre, who take on AFC Wimbledon in the second qualifying round tomorrow.

The club are in their third season in the Ridgeons Eastern Counties League after stepping up from the Suffolk and Ipswich League and playing in the Cup for the first time. They have already enjoyed a fine run in which they have seen off Felixstowe and Walton United, Gorleston and Holbeach United. Now they have a plum, money-spinning tie.

Mel Aldis, the manager, said: “We are the ultimate village football club - we’re boxing a little bit above our weight at the moment. The whole population of the village, which is about 1,900, is less than AFC Wimbledon’s home gate. It’s what the FA Cup is all about.

"We’ve come a long way already and realistically we’d expect to be knocked out at this stage, so to be drawn against Wimbledon with their support when we could have been playing against a club that might bring 50 fans is unbelievable.”

Aldis is unfazed by the prospect of travelling hordes descending on the Leisure Centre. “We’re used to staging big community events such as firework festivals, so we can handle it,” he said. “There’s a big car park and next door there is a school that has a massive car park that we can use.

“We’re not sure how many people we’ll get because Debenham is 12 miles away from Ipswich and they run buses here only every other Friday, so it might put off their supporters who travel by public transport. Whether one person pitches up or 1,000, we’ll welcome them with open arms.”

Although police and safety officers have fixed a crowd limit of 3,000, Aldis admits that if the attendance pushes capacity it might not make for the most comfortable day out. “We’ve got a stand that seats 114,” he said. “There’s a grass bank behind one of the goals that we have allocated to the Wimbledon supporters.”

That the club has reached its present status has much to do with Aldis, 47, who has been manager of the neighbouring leisure centre that gives the club its name since a year after it opened in 1991. For seven years Aldis played for and then managed Stowmarket Town, the Ridgeons premier division club, before being persuaded in 2003 to turn his energies to Debenham, which now boasts a full panoply of youth sides underneath its senior and reserve teams.

As the club uses the leisure centre bar and catering facilities, it cannot raise the finance to pay its players - “although we make sure none of the players is out of pocket”, Aldis said. The team is, unsurprisingly then, a mix of rising youngsters and old heads with whom Aldis had previously worked.

Shaun Francis, 19, a centre half, and Paddy Turley, a young full back, can expect to have their work cut out against the ambitious Ryman League premier division side that is now under the direction of Terry Brown, the former Aldershot Town and Hayes manager. Stuart Jopling and Ian Gedney, veteran forwards, who both scored 33 league goals last season when Debenham finished fifth in the first division, will be looking to exploit any chances.

“We haven’t seen Wimbledon play,” Aldis said. “They were at Margate on Tuesday and that’s at the other end of the world as far as we’re concerned. It’s not that I’m taking a negative approach to the match, far from it, but it was a bit far for us to travel. They did come and see us on Tuesday at Cornard United and we were absolutely awful. Their scout left when it was 1-1 and missed the three goals we scored in the last 15 minutes but we were still awful.”

Whatever happens tomorrow, Aldis knows that the club has already won itself depths of support in their own village that he hopes will serve them in good stead for many years to come. - Walter Gammie