FOLLOWING THE SALTMEN

24 February 2026

Challenge Cup Quarter Final

At Kingys

Weather permitting, the Saltmen welcome Fairford Town to Kingys this Tuesday, 24th February.

As you may recall, Droitwich progressed to the Quarter Final stage of the competition despite losing 2-1 away at Tuffley Rovers. Unfortunately for them, Tuffley unwittingly fielded a player who had already played for a previous club earlier in the season and was therefore cup-tied. Realising their error, Tuffley ‘fessed up and reported the accidental error to the powers that be. The result was that their place in the quarter final draw was awarded to Droitwich. Massive credit to Tuffley for their honesty.

This season Spa have beaten Fairford home and away in the league. But they were close affairs with The Saltmen winning both by a single goal margin. In any event, league results are often a poor guide to one-off cup ties.The biggest factor for Spa may be their enforced lack of recent game time. A combination of the never ending rain and opponents’ cup fixtures mean their last competitive outing came in the 4-0 home win over Cribbs on 31st January.

During the same period, Fairford racked up impressive away wins at Roman Glass and Westfields before losing away at Lydney on Saturday, in front of your intrepid FTS correspondent. It may have been the fact that the Lydney game was Fairford’s fourth consecutive away fixture but they looked shadow of the side we have played. I should add that Lydney played very well and stifled Fairford very efficiently.

Anyway, all will be revealed in the next 24 hours and we will know if we get that bonus trip to Slimbridge in a semi-final.

See you there.

Cheers

FTS