If the draw for the Fifth Round of this year's FA Cup was notable for anything in particular, what really stood out was the presence of two clubs for whom an appearance at this stage of the competition would been inconceivable just a couple of decades ago. Last weekend, both Crawley Town and Stevenage chalked up notable wins in the Fourth Round of the competition both by a single goal, with Crawley's coming at Hull City and Stevenage's against Notts County - and the reward for each is a home match against Premier League in the next round, in the form of Stoke City and Tottenham Hotspur respectively.

The tripartite nature of footballing rivalry in the north-east of England means that this afternoons FA Cup Fourth Round match between Sunderland and Middlesbrough has a hint of being a local derby about it without fully appearing to be the real thing.

Still, supporters of both of these clubs have cause to give a wry smile this afternoon.

There is, perhaps, little surprising in the fact that the most confusing tie of the Third Round of the FA Cup should involve Wrexham. The Blue Square Premier club the last non-league club still involved in this year's competition have had possibly the most convoluted twelve months of any side in the entire English league system, and this extended into the arrangements for this match against Brighton & Hove Albion, following their 1-1 draw at The American Express Community Stadium a week and a half ago.

This week's non-league videos of the week features four matches from the Second Round of the FA Trophy. With only thirty-two teams left in the competition at this stage, the scent of a Wembley final is starting to drift into the air, and our four matches tonight feature twenty-five goals. First up is a match between two clubs that are owned by their supporters, as Ebbsfleet United of the Blue Square Premier play Chester of the Northern Premier League.

There remains a sense of great expectations surrounding Leeds United. To get a feel for the root cause for this, we only need to spin back four decades, when Don Revie's team lost out on the Football League Championship to Derby County but managed a little solace in winning the FA Cup final against Arsenal at Wembley.

That the first weekend of the new year should see the coming together of these two clubs is entirely appropriate. Brighton & Hove Albion and Wrexham had differing experiences of 2011, but for both clubs the year ended with the feeling of a clean slate having been managed for both clubs. For Wrexham, the club is finally in the hands of the only people that could reasonably left in charge of it after years of mismanagement, the Wrexham Supporters Trust.

The FA Cup Third Round this weekend sees a handful of fascinating ties for the non-league clubs still in the competition, with Blue Square Premier title chasers Fleetwood Town taking on Blackpool, Tamworth travelling to Goodison Park to play Everton and Salisbury City of the Blue Square South making the journey to Bramall Lane to play Sheffield United.

How times have changed. So many times in the past the FA Cup giant-killers, Yeovil Town, now stalwart members of League One were knocked out themselves this evening, at home in an FA Cup Second Round replay, by a non-league club. The Glovers had been comfortable in the first match against Blue Square Premier promotion chasers Fleetwood Town with a two goal lead, but two late Fleetwood goals earned a replay at Huish Park and this evening the non-league club finished off the job with a two goal win that hands them arguably the tie of their dreams at the start of January.

Confirmation of the live televised matches for the Third Round of the FA Cup came early this year, and while there was no great shock in the Manchester derby a match which has, arguably, taken on a heightened level of importance given the events in the Champions League last night, even if it still isn't the main even of either teams season it was a little surprising to see that the decisions were taken by both ITV and ESPN before next weeks Second Round replays had even been played.

A plum FA Cup tie away at Tottenham Hotspur, an unbeaten run away from home
and whispers of a promotion push when did all start going so right
 for Cheltenham Town?

From the dark months of the Martin Allen era which saw the manager
 leave under a cloud after unproven accusations of racism levelled at him by a nightclub bouncer and a precarious escape from the drop zone
the Robins (or the Rubies are they are known this season due to their special 125th anniversary kit) have had a remarkable change in fortunes both on and off the pitch.

Evening falls over Sutton, and with it comes the final match of the Second Round of this year's FA Cup. Gander Green Lane has been here before, of course, in 1989 when the team in amber and chocolate knocked Coventry City out of the competition the last time that a non-league club knocked one from the top division out of the FA Cup and also in 1970, when a scarcely-credible 14,000 people packed in here to see Sutton United lose 6-0 against Leeds United in the Third Round of the competition.

Southern League Premier Division side Stourbridge finally ended their greatest ever FA Cup run at the hands of League One Stevenage at the War Memorial Athletic Ground earlier today, thanks to two goals from Chris Beardsley and a late third from Robin Shroot.

Stourbridge started with the same eleven that defeated Plymouth Argyle in the First Round, with the exception of influential midfielder Sean Geddes who missed the game through suspension – his place taken by Drew Canavan.

Twenty years ago in January, Wrexham AFC managed one of the great FA Cup surprises of all time. They had finished the previous season at the bottom of the Football League and had only been spared relegation to the Football Conference on account of the League expanding its size, while their Third Round opponents in that competition, Arsenal, had ended the previous season as the champions of England.

Plymouth Argyle's season goes from bad to worse, as they were knocked out of the FA Cup First Round by Southern League Premier Division side Stourbridge. Goals from Paul McCone and Sean Evans gave the Glassboys a well deserved victory, and the chance to face League One Stevenage in eleven days time.

Well, it's very late on a Sunday evening, so it's time for a round-up of non-league videos from over the course of this weekend. We kick off with a match from the First Round Proper of the FA Cup, between Chelmsford City of the Blue Square South and AFC Telford United of the Blue Square Premier. Next up is a match from the Ryman League Premier Division between two of the pre-season promotion favourites, Lewes and Bury Town, and this is followed by a match from the Southern League Division One Central between Slough Town and St Neots Town.

Viewers looking at the television schedules for last night may have noticed a gap in the football coverage. For the first time in more than two decades, there were no highlights from the FA Cup First Round on the television on the Saturday night after the matches were played, and viewers were forced to wait until this morning to catch up with what happened yesterday afternoon instead.

The FA Trophy continued this weekend with Durham City entertaining FC United of Manchester at New Ferens Park, after a brush with serious financial difficulties which threatened the very future of the club. FC United of Manchester, meanwhile, are still celebrating the planning permission granted for their new ground.

This weekend, the FA Cup reached its final qualifying round and the introduction of the clubs of the Blue Square Premier adds a little extra spice to the competition as well. Everybody that took to the pitch in this competition at the weekend went into their match knowing that a live appearance on ITV and a sizeable pay day could well be on the cards if they could just get over this hurdle, and this evening we have four matches from this round of the competition.

We briefly started the My Favourite Match season during the summer with my own personal selection of the 1984 European Championship semi-final between France and Portugal. This morning it's back, with Andrew Harding recalling a 4-2 win which, as a seven year-old, came to define his relationship with the London club.

Perhaps it is all a matter of perception. For clubs at one end of the spectrum, a home defeat at the hands of a local rival may be enough to start the tabloids gossiping. Supporters of Aldershot Town could be forgiven for shrugging their shoulders at such relative trivialities. They, in March of 1992, lost their club with two months of the season left to play and had to begin again the following season as a new club, in the Ryman League Division Three.

We have two posts making up our non-league videos of the week for this week, kicking off with three matches from the Third Qualifying Round of this year's FA Cup. The clubs taking this part in this round of the competition will take their place against those of the Blue Square Premier in its final qualifying round, and should they win this match they will be have a chance of a live television appearance and the sort of prize money which can make a serious difference to the well-being of a non-league club.

This weekend's non-league videos of the week come from the Blue Square Premier and the Second Qualifying Round of the FA Cup. In the Blue Square Premier, AFC Telford United have reacted positively to their promotion from the Blue Square North at the end of last season and sit in mid-table in the division at present and they were at home against Hayes & Yeading United, who were the beneficiaries of Kettering Town's generosity and subsequent implosion on Tuesday night.

This is the Second Qualifying Round of the FA Cup, isn't it? By this stage of the competition, we would usually be wearing something approaching our winter woollies and sipping at Bovril which remains scalding hot for three minutes for turning stone cold in the amount of time that it takes to blink, but summer has come late this year, and Surrey is unusually temperate this afternoon.

This is the Second Qualifying Round of the FA Cup, isn't it? By this stage of the competition, we would usually be wearing something approaching our winter woollies and sipping at Bovril which remains scalding hot for three minutes for turning stone cold in the amount of time that it takes to blink, but summer has come late this year, and Surrey is unusually temperate this afternoon.

True enough, it's only the Third Round of the League Cup and both of the teams playing this evening, whether rightly or wrongly, may well feel that they have bigger fish to fry than this competition this season. There is, however, something in the sea air in Brighton this evening. The trains into the railway station are jammed solid and the queue for the trains out to The American Express Community Stadium snakes out of the station and around the concourse outside.

This week's Non-League Videos Of The Week see us return to the FA Cup, which reached the First Qualifying Round the third round of matches in this year's competition. This round sees the first appearance of the clubs of the Premier Divisions of the Isthmian, Southern and Northern Premier Leagues, so there are some familiar faces taking their first bow in this competition in this round.

It was Non-League Day this weekend, as you will all now be thoroughly aware, so to close up on this it's time for this week's Non-League Videos Of The Week, this week featuring no fewer than six matches, from the Blue Square Premier, the Blue Square South, the Northern Premier League, the Southern League and the FA Cup.

Did he mean it, then, or was he merely to trying to cover his embarrassment? Neil Warnock is, of course, what is commonly referred to as a "character". He can, however, be a walking contradiction at times, and it often feels as if, just as you're in danger of warming to him, he will say something as if to remind you of why many supporters call him by an anagram if his name which is, well, fairly obscene.

The story of how this evening's match between Ascot United and Wembley FC has come to be shown live via the medium of Facebook thanks to the tournament's sponsors, Budweiser, has, it could well be argued, had a positive effect for all concerned. The Extra Preliminary Round of the FA Cup and, in turn, the tournament itself has received a shot of publicity for a stage of the competition that usually receives next to none.

The real party, of course, was on Saturday. Brighton & Hove Albion marked their arrival at The Amex Community Stadium with a late, late win against Doncaster Rovers, but the celebrations continued this evening with a narrow win against Gillingham of League Two. After fourteen years waiting, though, could the new stadium possibly live up to expectations?

As the Twohundredpercent summer interval continues, we take a look back at Wycombe Wanderers' run to the semi-finals of the competition in 2001.

The FA Cup is a competition that throws up surprise results every season, but some records remain and one that may never be broken is that no-one from the bottom two divisions of the Football League has made The FA Cup final.

AFC Wimbledon play Luton Town in the Blue Square Premier play-off final in Manchester this afternoon and, setting aside concerns about the ticketing arrangements for a moment, there is a definite sense of headiness in the air this morning as supporters of the two clubs head north for the match. For both clubs, there is an obvious sense of injustice that they find themselves in this particular division in the first place.

For those of us that consider the Premier League to be little more of a diversion than any of football's other myriad of competitions, it had been easy to switch off over the last few days and pretend that this wasn't happening. The full extent of the debasement of the FA Cup by the Premier League and Sky Sports probably didn't hit home until about twenty minutes before kick off at Wembley yesterday.

Amid all the talk of the "devaluation" of the FA Cup (and it should go without saying that we should all wish an eternal curse on that rogue organisation, the Premier League, for seeking to undermine further it by scheduling a round of matches on the day of the FA Cup final how difficult would it have been for them to play them tomorrow?

Either Stoke City or Manchester City will win their first trophy since the 1970s tomorrow afternoon, but Mark Brophy wonders whether the glowing feeling that comes with it may turn out to be more fleeting than they might hope.

The FA Cup Final this weekend will, unusually, be contested by two teams for whom fans under the age of forty will struggle to remember their last trophy win, in both cases a League Cup victory.

Tomorrow, as you probably know, is the FA Cup Final between Manchester City and Stoke City. Editorial discretion prevents Dotmund from saying who he will be supporting. However, historical facts are indiscreet things indeed and as your correspondent has discovered, the shirt on your back may prove to be the very thing keeping you from your ambitions.

When Stoke City play Manchester City on Saturday, it won't be the first time that the two sides have met at the end of the season. David Mayor reports on two very different sets of emotions.

When my team, Manchester City, face Stoke City at Wembley this Saturday, it will, many of my nearest and dearest would say, be the biggest City game I've been to.

It may have escaped your attention, but it is the FA Cup final on Saturday. Manchester City and Stoke City will take the pitch at Wembley on Saturday afternoon, with both clubs looking for their first major trophy since the 1970s. With shameless nostalgia in the back of our minds, then, it's time to take a look back at six terrific FA Cup finals unless your team happened to be on the losing side, that is from the days when Cup Final day was the crowning glory of the domestic season.

There is something understated about this afternoon's second FA Cup semi-final between Bolton Wanderers and Stoke City. This morning's papers are full of last night's Manchester derby and the match between Barcelona and Real Madrid in La Liga, but there is more to it than merely this. Sky Sports and the Premier League have scheduled the Premier League match between Arsenal and Liverpool directly up against this match, as well proof, as if it were needed, of Sky's commitment to little more than itself and there are empty seats at Wembley this afternoon.

As Bolton Wanderers and Stoke City take the pitch for their FA Cup semi-final at Wembley Stadium this afternoon, we could perhaps be forgiven for believing that there is a slight chill in the air. These are two sides whose continued presence in the game are a solid link with the past, but they are both clubs that have changed with the times.