BASINGSTOKE Town will meet familiar opponents in the FA Cup after being drawn away against Lymington and New Milton, who have beaten Shoreham and Cowes IoW in the competition so far.

The recent second qualifying round draw paired the Hampshire sides together in the national cup, but it was in the county cup competition where the two clubs had a fiery encounter in 2003-04 at Fawcett's Field.

Home goalkeeper Alan Walker-Harris clashed with visiting Basingstoke fans and threatened some with violence, which led to a club investigation by chairman John Mills.

This year's tie on the south coast is scheduled to take place on Saturday, September 30, kick-off 3pm, and Town boss Francis Vines - whose last taste of cup action when in charge of Crawley in 2005 was a fourth qualifying round defeat to Braintree - is hoping for a cup run to earn the Camrose club a much-needed financial boost.

The competition has not been kind to Town in recent years, with defeats to lower-league opposition in the form of Bracknell and Newbury, while last season Chippenham Town dumped the club out at the fourth qualifying round stage.

Vines said: "Cup success comes from the luck of the draw, so I hope we'll get a lucky one this season, get a few lower-league sides and get through to the first round proper at least.

"That's when it really is the luck of the draw. Get through that to the second round, and then the third, and you can start dreaming of drawing someone like Manchester United.

"Look at clubs like Exeter and Burton. They've been well set-up financially for the next few years after getting United in the cup.

"Then there's also clubs like Yeading, who are in no better position than they were, because they've got nothing left from the money they made in the cup.

"But I hope we can have a decent run in the cup this season and we'll look forward to getting started at Lymington in a few weeks."