Scott Pollock Faces Leicester City in FA Cup Showdown
Scott Pollock grew up dreaming of Leicester City. On Friday night, he wants to make their season even more uncomfortable.
The Oxford City midfielder will face his boyhood club in the FA Cup first round at The MGroup Stadium, under the lights and on the artificial surface his side know better than anyone. The tie hands the National League North team a rare shot at a former Premier League and FA Cup winner. Pollock sees far more than a payday.
"It just felt like it was meant to be as a Leicester fan myself," he told BBC Radio Oxford, still sounding slightly amused by the draw. A home tie, he insists, only sharpens their belief. "Away would have been nice but I feel that at home we have a good chance of going through."
This is not just another cup night for the 25-year-old. As a youngster he had trials with Leicester – as a goalkeeper, no less – before the club turned him down. That rejection nudged him out of the penalty area and into midfield, where he has built his career and now finds himself plotting against the team he once hoped to represent.
The stage suits the story. Oxford City have reached the first round proper for the first time in four years, squeezing past Torquay United in the final qualifying round. The club know what it takes to rattle higher-league opponents, and Pollock knows it better than most.
In 2020 he was on the other side of an Oxford City upset, part of the Northampton Town team that fell 2-1 to the part-timers in a classic FA Cup shock. That experience still shapes his thinking. He has seen, from inside a League One dressing room, how a supposedly routine cup tie can unravel.
Now he believes the roles are reversed again. The pressure, he says, sits squarely on Leicester.
The Foxes arrive as a third-tier club after back-to-back relegations from the Premier League and the Championship, and their start to life in League One has been bumpy. Promotion is non-negotiable, and the FA Cup offers little hiding place if things go wrong against a non-league side.
"There's just a feeling of excitement among us really," Pollock said. Leicester, he argues, carry the burden. "The pressure's on them to do well in the league and in the cup - we're at home and we know the pitch so it favours us in that aspect."
That artificial surface can be an equaliser, especially for visiting sides used to the rhythm of grass. City train and play on it every week. Passes zip, bounces bite, and any early uncertainty can be punished.
Pollock is not blind to the gulf in resources or reputation. "That being said, we know they're a good team so we have to be up for it," he added. Respect, yes. Fear, no.
Oxford City have already written themselves into FA Cup folklore once with that win over Northampton. The midfielder sees no reason the script cannot twist again, this time with his old dream standing on the opposite touchline.
"Oxford City have done cup upsets before and there is no reason why we can't do it again."
On Friday, under the glare of the floodlights and the weight of Leicester’s expectations, he will find out whether the club that once turned him away can withstand the kind of story the FA Cup lives for.
