Road To Wembley Part 9: Family At The Heart Of Jamille Matt's FA Cup Dream

The Sportsman’s Road To Wembley has kept us in Gloucestershire after Forest Green Rovers got past Alvechurch to set up a Third Round tie with Championship side Birmingham City.

Forest Green Rovers currently sit bottom of League One after a turbulent summer saw them lose manager Rob Edwards to Watford and League Two’s Player of the Season Kane Wilson to Bristol City. But this weekend they have a chance to leave their league worries behind as they face a struggling Championship outfit in Birmingham City at the New Lawn in the Third Round of the FA Cup.

Captain Jamille Matt, who was given the armband at the start of the title-winning season, knows a thing or two about this competition, having already scored a famous FA Cup goal. Back in 2019 when at Newport County, he scored the opener in a 2-1 win over Premier League side Leicester City, who would go on to win the competition in 2021.

“Yeah, it was a very surreal moment and a very surreal day,” Matt tells the Sportsman, ahead of this year’s Third Round. “My son would have been two at the time and I got to walk out alongside him first and foremost.

READ MORE:

“Also, to score against a Premier League team. Being Jamaican, Wes Morgan who played for Jamaica and captained Jamaica, outjumping him to score the goal was also something that I really cherished. And yeah, just to kind of be massive underdogs. Obviously, it was what the FA Cup is all about isn't it? Massive underdogs and upsetting the odds against Leicester, who had been Premier League champions not too long before. So it was a great day and a great occasion for everyone involved.

“I actually have Marc Albrighton's shirt from that day,” Matt continues with a smile. “I’ve still got it now along with some other shirts that I've collected over the years and I'll put them up when I retire. I actually saw Marc a few weeks later and had a good chat with him and he was very gracious and said we deserved to win on the night and that probably added to it a little bit.”

It’s now been four years since Matt’s son Luca walked out with him at Rodney Parade, but the impact he has made on the 33-year-old hasn’t diminished in the slightest.

“Funnily enough, I'm in his bedroom and it's the only place I can get away from him!” the Jamaican laughs. “But he's brilliant. I think straight away you've got a responsibility, it's not just yourself anymore.

“It's about this little human that's looking up to you, watching your every move and seeing what you do and learning off you. He’s watching you even when you don't think he is and just a few words I might have said he copies it straight away.

“It puts everything into perspective as well, especially a lot this year. We take it the hardest when we've gone through bad results or bad moments within football. And then you come home to see him and he might make a little joke. 'Oh, you lost today!' And he's just laughing and he thinks it's hilarious. But sometimes, something as simple as that can make you smile, because you put into perspective how much pressure we put on ourselves in football.”

Now the FGR club captain is looking to make a bit more FA Cup history, as his side prepare to face John Eustace’s Birmingham, who currently sit 17th in the second tier, but have lost their last three matches. Forest Green may be feeling the heat in the league, but the FA Cup’s magic could give the entire club a lift this weekend.

“I think maybe the pressure's off a little bit as we are underdogs going into this game,” Matt says. “Birmingham are expected to come and beat us. But from within ourselves, we know the ability that's in our dressing room, we've not shown it on a consistent basis. There's been a lot of changes at the club, there's been a lot of different things going on in terms of injuries and it's not probably come together as much as we'd like this season. But with the quality we possess within the changing room, we know ourselves we can get a result against anyone, anybody on our day.”

Jamille Antonio Matt

@j4mmaa

Season completed ✅
Couldn't have asked for a better group of players staff to be involved with and achieve promotion as champions! 🏆🥇
Special thanks to the fans for their support all through the season too 💚 🦋
🎥@AdenOnSocials
@FGRFC_Official

After picking up an injury in pre-season, Matt has been in and out of the starting XI this season under Ian Burchnall. But the forward who grew up in Walsall is well aware of the importance of the tie, and the impact a winning goal could have.

“It's massive. When you eventually hang your boots up, when you look back at those are the kinds of memories that you look back on, alongside maybe your kids or your loved one, those are the memories you'll cherish. So it's definitely an incentive. It’s another team I've not had the chance to play against as well. It's another thing I look at in Birmingham, I grew up in Walsall, which is not too far away. So it's a club I'm very aware of so yeah, it's a massive incentive. But listen, we want to win the game. And that's the main objective.”

Without wanting to get ahead of himself, the life-long Arsenal fan still has a dream tie in mind, should his side get past Birmingham and into the Fourth Round.

“The Emirates! I'd love to play there. I'm a long-suffering Arsenal fan. All the years of everyone else taking the mickey out of us for how we've been playing but I’m buzzing to see how well they're doing this year. My lad has got no choice but to be an Arsenal supporter himself. So I would love to play against them and be able to walk out alongside my little boy again.”

Forest Green Rovers face Birmingham City at the New Lawn Stadium on Saturday, kick-off is at 12.30pm. The Sportsman’s Road to Wembley series will continue with the winners of that tie.