The last football match I went to was the FA Cup final when my beloved Aston Villa got thrashed by Arsenal at Wembley, writes Steve Zacharanda.

Well. I say "went" I did not actually get into the stadium. I went down for the day hoping to buy a ticket from a tout but £300 was about £300 out of my price range.

But I got to spend a great few hours with Villa fans and old friends in the run up to the game and ended up watching the anti-climatic match with an old mate who is a Blues fan.

I headed home to Brum after the third goal and when I woke up on the train in New Street station I was greeted with the news that my mate Ian, who I'd been with before the game, was in hospital fighting for his life after falling off Wembley Way and the doctors thought he would never walk again.

So needless to say it was not the best away day in a life of following the Villa and Bill Shankley's glib "football is more important than life and death" never sounded so stupid.

So the last football match I actually went into was the semi-final against Liverpool and it was incredible because we had got to the FA Cup final for the second time in my lifetime. I love the FA Cup.

I love how it starts on the dog poo and needle covered playing fields of the country which invented the game and works its way throughout the season until the climax at Wembley on the last day of the season.

I'd rather the Villa win the FA Cup than anything else. The league, staying up whatever - I just want to see us win the bugger before I die. My granddad Wally Webster from Water Orton always wanted to see the Villa win the cup in his lifetime too - and he almost did but tragically died two days before we beat Man Utd's Busby Babes in 1957.

I used to love going to my nan's house as a kid for FA Cup final day - the Villa were joint top with seven wins with Tottenham, so we celebrated Keith Houchen's diving header against Spurs in 1987 with as much delirium as any Coventry City fan.

So I believe in that most overused of footballing phrases - "the magic of the FA Cup." And it is now when it is happening. Not in the New Year when you get glimpses amid the empty seats of Premier League grounds and weakened team sheets of middle ranking Premiership managers whose clubs will never win the title because their chairman does not own a fossil fuel field but could lead their team out at Wembley (what is that all about?).

This weekend is the last round of the FA Cup before the first round proper and there are some mouth-watering ties including the Kidderminster - Stourbridge derby.

But tomorrow there is a tie with more magic in it than Paul Daniels' chat up line to Debbie Magee - FC United v Sporting Khalsa.

The Willenhall club which started with lads from the local Sikh temple playing a kick about in a park is facing the biggest game in its history against the bastard offspring of the biggest club in the world.

Halesowen News:

Starting from the bottom: The 1992 Sporting Khalsa team photo.  

FC United are the headline grabbing none-league club set up by Manchester United fans who had been priced out, banned or sent over the edge by having American owners.

Attracting huge crowds home and away they lack the romance of Wimbledon who were formed after the FA sanctioned transgenderisation of their team into the MK Dons but none the less are a great footballing 21st Century story.

Of course, if, when FC United draw Man Utd in the cup the entire football media will explode in a sopping wet convulsion of self-fellatio but thankfully that must be a few years off yet.

As it is prepare for the internet to groan under the weight of well oiled grown men's selfies with the great Duncan Edwards' statue as they make the pilgrimage to Dudley town centre before the game.

All of which means the game at Sporting Khalsa will be one of the sporting spectacles of the year in the West Midlands.

And if SK win it will be a huge giant killing as FC United are three leagues higher in the none-league pyramid.

The good people at SK have pulled out all the stops to ensure the occasion will be one to remember. After beating Spalding Utd and drawing FC United it has been all hands to the pump to ensure the Aspray Arena, which usually caters for 50 fans, can cope with a possible 3,000 supporters.

Manager Ian Rowe has even put a few labouring shifts in to ensure there are ditches in the right places. I'm pretty sure for the first time in none-league history there will be fan zones so supporters will not be queuing too long for the top notch curry on sale which will knock the socks off any stadium pie.

After all the food will be prepared in the Aspray Arena's own curry house in the 4-4-2 bar, not even Premier League clubs can boast that.

Go and see Villa v Swansea in the money mad Premier League? I'm having naan of that, I'm off to see the mighty Sporting Khalsa.

The match kicks off at 3pm at the Aspray Arena, Noose Lane, Willenhall, and for more information about the club visit www.sportingkhalsa.com.