Match Preview

On The Home Front
Next up at Hillgrounds…
Opponent AFC Dunstable
Competition Southern League Cup
AFC Dunstable’s Current League position 14/20
Last Time They Were Here… Ben Shepherd’s free kick decided the first home game of last season
AFC Dunstable’s Current League Form LWLLW
Did you know… Relics of Palæolithic humans, including such rel-ics as flint implements and the bones of con-temporary wild animals, suggest settlement is prehistoric. At Maidenbower in the parish of Houghton Regis to the north, there is an Iron Age hill fort, which is clearly marked on the Ord-nance survey maps. Maidenbower has some of the ramparts showing through the edge of an old chalk quarry at Sewell where there are Bronze Age remains of an older fort. There are a lot of prehistoric sites in this area and details can be found with the Manshead Archaeological Society who are based in Winfield Street, Dun-stable. Dunstable is on the route of the Icknield Way, which is claimed to be 'the oldest road in Britain’.
On this day in Rovers history… The earliest recorded result for Rovers on this day was in 1897 against a side known as “Barracks”, this was a 1-0 away win in the Bedford & District League.
In 1965, Rovers recorded a 7-0 win at home over British Timken Duston in UCL Division 2
More recently, there was a 4-1 away win in 2010 at Buckingham Town on the way to Rovers’ promotion that season.

Kempston made the quarter finals of this competition last season, knocking out Kings’ Lynn Town, who would make the play off final in the league above, as well as Biggleswade Town. Royston Town did ‘technically’ knock Rovers out in round two but were disqualified, allowing Rovers to progress. Kempston eventually bowed out to eventual winners Hitchin Town.

This season’s expanded Southern League means that there are significantly more teams in this cup than last year, making any potential route to the final longer.

There is no extra time in this competition, meaning that if we are level at 90 minutes, we will go straight to penalties.