​Yeovil Town went into the FA Cup Third Round as the lowest-ranked team left in the competition, and emerged with a fourth round draw at home to Premier League giants Manchester United.

The draw, although arguably the most difficult available for the Glovers, is a dream come true for star man, Otis Khan. The former Manchester United youth academy player stated that being drawn against the Red Devils would be “perfect”, as Old Trafford is just “ten or 15 minutes” from where he grew up. 

90min’s Year of the Underdog series has been following each of the FA Cup’s lowest ranked teams through the early rounds – Heybridge Swifts and Slough Town in the first two rounds – and went down to Yeovil for a couple of days to get a taste of life with the FA Cup’s lowest ranked side. 

Ahead of the third round tie with Bradford City, Yeovil Town manager Darren Way stated that it was a game that would need “11 players at the top of their game; working harder than they’ve ever worked before” to win.  

The problem that he faced prior to the game however, was that he didn’t even have 11 players to choose from. Just three days before the crucial third round FA Cup tie, Way explained that he only had ten players available for selection. 

After “168 calls in one day”, Way managed to bring in four new players just 48 hours before kick off; two of which would start in the game against Bradford.

These late acquisitions would pay dividends on the day, as one of these signings – Marcus Barnes – scored the opening goal of the game. 

Speaking after the win, the former Southampton man stated that he had met the rest of the squad just “ten minutes” before walking on the Huish Park pitch with them; however, Barnes was able to draw on previous experiences playing with Lukas Reader – Bradford City’s goalkeeper -while the Bradford ‘keeper was on trial at the Saints to score his goal: 

“The goalkeeper had had pre-season with Southampton, so I knew a bit about him…I knew I had to get the shot low.”

The game against United at the end of the month will be the Glovers’ biggest game since facing the same opponents in front of 81,000 people at Maine Road after they knocked out high-flying Sunderland in the previous round – then dubbed the ‘Bank of England’ team for their extravagant spending. 

Yeovil’s win over Bradford marks the first time this season that the lowest ranked team in a given round of the FA Cup proper have progressed – Heybridge Swifts losing 3-1 to Exeter in the first round and Slough Town falling 4-0 to Rochdale in the second. 

The Glovers have had little enough to cheer about at Huish Park this season, with massive injury problems leaving them 21st in the league and on the edge of a relegation battle.