On four occasions Villa’s visit has set a Hawthorns attendance record.While today’s full house of 27,000 represents less than half the number which once gathered to see them lock horns at a ground which lies half in the Black Country and half in Birmingham, the atmosphere will be as passionate as ever. After they last met, in a 1990 FA Cup tie which Villa won 2-0 at Albion, Graham Taylor spoke of the need to be “masters in our own backyard”. The title does not figure in either club’s honours list, but both sets of supporters crave it.. Any dictionary of football phrase and fable requires a new entry under the heading of Team Bath. The game’s traditional place of deep-water post-match bonding has been usurped in common usage by a bunch of footballing academics who make history today by becoming the first university side to play in the first round proper of the FA Cup for 122 years. The stage is thus set for a moment of genuine Cup romance, although those harbouring images of pale, swotty young men casting aside mortar boards and gowns to display the virtues of mens sana in corpore sano might have to adjust their notions a little.The phrase footballing academics is used with licence.

They are all students, as their manager, Ged Roddy, has been at pains to emphasise all week, but the majority are not in pursuit of erudite self-advancement of the traditional kind. Of the 15 players in Roddy’s squad, 11 have a background in professional football in England, one played in France, one in Italy and another is an ex-Scottish under-21 international. Most are studying for the Higher National Diploma in coach education and sports performance – not a course with which Bamber Gascoigne will have been familiar.The defender Peter Tisdale, who represented England at under-18 level and played at reserve level for Queen’s Park Rangers and Bournemouth, is a graduate in politics and economics, but the only player who has no links with the paid game is the architectural engineering student and left-back Mike Wisson.The reserve goalkeeper Chris Gibson, the 19-year-old son of the former Manchester United defender Colin, was once actually on Mansfield’s books. Giuseppe Sorbara was with Como in the Italian League, Bertrand Kozic played for the French club Biharel. Easily the most experienced is the 28-year-old striker Barry Lavety, who won Scottish First Division titles with Hibernian and St Mirren.However, Roddy insisted: “All of our players are real students. But we are the first to admit that they are not everyday students.

They have come here for two reasons – because they want an education and because they are talented footballers. It just happens that this year we have a great class.”The game is a shop window for those seeking a second chance, such as Caleb Kamara-Taylor, who was rejected by Wimbledon. “I was still keen to stay in football but had a hankering to go to university, so when I heard about the Bath scheme it seemed the ideal solution,” he said.Team Bath are among 32 non-League teams hoping to reach the second round, among which the former giantkillers Hereford, who face Wigan in a 5.35pm televised game, Scarborough (v Cambridge United), Yeovil (v Cheltenham), Southport (v Notts County) and Northwich Victoria (v Scunthorpe) look prime candidates to have their own team baths overflowing with celebration.. Gary Lineker faces a race against time to stop Leicester City’s promotion-chasing side from being broken up. Lineker has pledged some of his own money and has been joined by other high-profile benefactors like the Liverpool striker Emile Heskey, like Lineker a former Leicester player.The BBC sports presenter’s greatest fear is that his consortium will not be able to buy the club before the transfer window opens in January and the administrator will be tempted to sell Leicester’s best players, possibly wrecking any chance of promotion for a team currently second in the table.But Lineker is convinced the consortium he leads will be able to raise the £5m they need to buy the club off the administrator before other clubs are able to make bids for Leicester’s best players in January.Lineker said of the bid: “It’s going remarkably well. The consortium we have got together have had a lot of goodwill. Surprisingly, a lot of big businessman around the country are Leicester fans or want to help.”Having taken the total past the £4m mark, Lineker is busy helping to draw up the fine details of the bid.”There’s a degree of urgency because the transfer window comes up in January.

This is just about saving Leicester City which is a part of the local community,” Lineker added.. It will be as clear underdogs that England step into the second leg of their Women’s World Cup qualifying play-off final against France in St-Etienne this afternoon. It’s an uphill battle because France are a good side, but we’ll be giving it everything we’ve got and I think we can do it.”England have lost to France in each of their last four meetings, while the venue for this afternoon’s fixture also bodes ill for the visitors. One of the most impressive performances by Nick Dougherty in the season where he became the Rookie of the Year on the European Tour came not on the golf course but at a dinner at the Open Championship.