ANDOVER Town are buzzing to be bringing the magic of the FA Cup back to the Portway Stadium.

After a statutory wait of two seasons, the north Hampshire club, established in 2013, were delighted to be included in the extra preliminary round draw for the first time – and pull out a home game against Gillingham Town of the Western Premier Division on Saturday, August 15.

It brings FA Cup football back to the Portway for the first time since the demise of the old Andover FC in the summer of 2011.

“As a new club we couldn’t play in the FA Cup for two years, so we were waiting with bated breath for the draw and the fact we got a home tie is great,” smiled Andover boss Neil Benson.

“We’re also in the FA Youth Cup for the first time and we’re at home in that one too against Fleet Town.

“It’s nice for the people of Andover to get an opportunity to see these games and I’m sure the public will respond.”

Benson has “a few summer signings on the boil” as Town look to build on a solid 12th-place finish in their maiden Sydenhams Premier campaign.

But the fact that Andover work hand in hand with the Sparsholt Football Academy and their Southampton FC Second Chance Programme means they have a readymade stream of young talent in the pipeline.

“We’ve now got an elite development tier sitting alongside the Saints Second Chance Programme and we’ve placed a team in the Conference Youth Alliance on a Wednesday, playing under the name of Andover Town,” Benson said.

“We’ll also have a further side playing on Sundays in the Hampshire Youth (Under-18) League as Andover Town.

“We’re trying to foster relationships with youth football and we’ve been working hard with the youth set-up to bring them under the club umbrella.”

However, it has not been all good news for Town this week – with fallen giants Salisbury now back in business, it came as no great surprise that Andover Town lost Claudio Herbert this summer.

The right-sided midfielder made 37 appearances for Town last season, scoring three goals.

But having previously been a junior at the old Salisbury City FC, the 22-year-old has been persuaded back to join Steve Claridge’s new project at the Raymond McEnhill Stadium.

However, Herbert leaves with no hard feelings from Benson, who said: “It was inevitable with Salisbury being in fairly close proximity that we would come into competition for players.”

“It’s not really a case of Claudio ‘going home’ because he lives in Andover, but he’s gone back to where he was some years ago.

“He was a good squad player for us and we wish him well with Salisbury like we do any player who goes on to pastures new.”

Andover Town are currently recruiting – those interested should contact Benson on 07860 150075 or at neil.benson@sparsholt.ac.uk