SIMON GRAYSON reckons he and Chris Powell’s reaction to the FA Cup third-round draw will have been pretty similar.
“No disrespect, but ‘not you again’ probably summed up the thoughts of both of us,” smiled Grayson after Town were handed a trip to Charlton Athletic.
It’s one of a clutch of games scheduled for the capital on Saturday, January 5, with Millwall at home to Preston and Crystal Palace taking on Stoke in South London alone.
Town, of course, fought out a 1-1 draw at The Valley the Saturday before last, when Keith Southern was sent off and Adam Clayton levelled with a late penalty.
“It was a tight game and the cup-tie should be too,” added Grayson. “Hopefully this time we will keep 10 men on the pitch!
“Chris Powell (Charlton’s manager) has got the home advantage, but I’m sure that like me, he will have fancied a crack at a Premier League side.
“But as with any cup competition, you get who you get, and the two teams will certainly know a bit about each other.
“There are some crucial Championship matches to play before we go back to Charlton, but when the time comes, we’ll be ready.”
Grayson piloted Leeds to a memorable 1-0 third-round victory at arch-rivals Manchester United in 2009-10, and would love a long run in the competition.
“That would be good for finances and good for our fans,” added the man who faced Arsenal as Leeds boss in the third round for the last two seasons.
It will be third time Town and Charlton have met in the FA Cup, which they have won once apiece (Town in 1922 and Charlton in 1947).
Both previous meetings have been in round three, the first at The Valley in January 1926, when Town, who were closing in on their celebrated hat trick of league titles, won 1-0.
Roy Goodall’s penalty put Town through, but the next round brought a 4-0 defeat by Manchester City in front of a bumper 74,799 crowd.
The second encounter took place in January 1958 just weeks after Charlton's famous 7-6 comeback victory at The Valley in a Second Division (now Championship match).
The first game at Leeds Road finished 2-2 – Denis Law and Les Massie scored for Town – setting up a replay which Charlton won 1-0.
Buck Ryan, who had scored the Londoners’ seventh goal in the league game, also netted the decisive strike in the cup.
The pulling power the competition used to have was shown by the respective attendances for the league and cup matches – 12,535 and 26,637 (20,227 saw the Leeds Road tie).
