If any of you have ever watched “Survivor” you will know that near the end, once the competition has been reduced to the finalists, they reminisce over the other contestants have been backstabbed and lied out of the game.

The FA Cup this season may be low on the backstabbing and lying quotient – better left to the Premiership – but a lot of teams have fallen by the way since the Extra Preliminary Round was held last August.

A little under 700 clubs entered the competition and now it is down to the top two teams in England to battle it out for the FA Cup. But rather than focusing on Chelsea and Manchester United, now is the chance to look back at some of the teams that took part in the competition.

The majority of the extra preliminary round games got underway on August 18 of last year. I randomly chose the game between Jarrow Roofing Boldon Community Association and Billingham Synthonia and to follow the winner until they were knocked out and then continue with their conqueror.

Jarrow Roofing Boldon Community Association made it through to the First Qualifying Round beating Billingham Synthonia 5-2 and Thackley F.C. 5-4. According to the FA Cup website the first round win by Jarrow was the upset of the round.

Both Jarrow and Billingham Synthonia played in the Arngrove Northern League Division 1 and although Jarrow won the FA Cup game, Synthonia finished well above them in the league. The teams finished 7th and 15th respectively out of 21 teams. Thackley F.C. finished third from bottom of the Northern Counties East Football League Premier Division and only avoided relegation by one point.

Fleetwood Town dispatched Jarrow 3-0 and made it through the next three rounds beating Goole AFC 4-2, Warrington Town 2-0 and Wisbech Town by the same score. Fleetwood finished 8th in the Unibond League while Goole AFC were 7th in the league below. Playing in the same division as Goole AFC, Warrington Town were fifteen spots lower at 22nd.

Wisbech Town of the Ridgeons Premier League (Eastern Counties) settled in a mid-table position. Salisbury City of the Nationwide Conference South took care of Fleetwood Town in the First Round 3-0 and earned a second round tie against former European Cup holders Nottingham Forest. After a 1-1 tie, Forest won the replay 2-0.

However, it has turned out to be another successful season for Salisbury under the management of former Southampton FA Cup winner Nick Holmes. They gained their second straight promotion. Last season they moved up from the Southern League Premier Division and next season they will be in the Conference National after winning the play-off final.

Forest went on to pull off one of the shocks of the third round when they comfortably beat Charlton Athletic 2-0. It was traumatic season for Charlton that finished with relegation to the Championship.

Forest then drew Chelsea at Stamford Bridge and from that point on it was all Chelsea. They beat Forest 3-0, Norwich City 4-0, Tottenham 2-1 in a replay after a fantastic 3-3 draw, and finally saw Blackburn Rovers off 2-1 in extra time in the semi final.

Forest are currently embroiled in the League One play offs – they beat Yeovil 2-0 in the first leg of the semi and the second leg is May 18. Norwich City could do no better than 16th in the Championship while Tottenham had to again settle for 5th in the Premiership. Blackburn saw their form slip late in the season and eventually finished 10th.

So there you are five degrees of separation between the multi millionaires of Chelsea and Billingham Synthonia who lost the extra preliminary round game nine months ago in front of a crowd of 67 paying spectators. On Saturday we will find out if the FA Cup conforms to 6 degrees of separation when the Cup Final is played out in front of 90,000 spectators and a TV audience in the tens of millions.

What was the best game you saw this season in the FA Cup and what individual performance stands out in your mind?

The Premiership and Championship teams do not enter the FA Cup for another round but cup fever is already gripping fans of Salisbury City. Salisbury has never made it to the third round of the Cup and if they are to do so for the first time, then they will have to beat former European Cup winners Nottingham Forest .

It is not surprising that all 3,100 tickets (up from the normal capacity of 2,700) have already been sold for Sunday’s game at the Raymond McEnhill Stadium and Fox Soccer Channel and Fox Sports World Canada viewers can catch the game on same-day tape delay (1:00 p.m. EST on both channels).

Salisbury has won all their four games in the cup so far and as yet to concede a goal. In the last round they took care of Fleetwood United 3-0. Fleetwood moved through four rounds of the competition after dispatching Jarrow Roofing Boldon C.A, the club chosen at random by the blog when the extra preliminary round of the Cup was drawn.

Salisbury has slipped to third in the Football Conference South and is five points behind current leaders Histon but with two games in hand. However, they have only lost three games out of the total of 22 this year and manager Nick Holmes, who played for Southampton when they beat Manchester United in the FA Cup Final of 1976, is looking to pull off another shock.

In Nottingham Forest they face a team that has fallen further than any European team has ever done. No winner of the European Cup had ever sunk to the third tier of domestic action until Forest was relegated at the end of last season. But for Forest fans this season has provided a ray of hope. Former Scottish international and Spurs’ defender Colin Calderwood took over after a spell at Northampton and the indications are that he has stopped the rot and the club his finally heading up once more.

Currently Forest sit at the top of League One with a six-point lead having won five of their last six league games and drawn the other. However, in midweek Bristol City did defeat Forest on penalties in the Johnstone's Paint Trophy after the teams shared four goals.
Forest knocked off Yeading 5-0 in the first round of the FA Cup while Salisbury beat the same team 3-1 back in September in Conference South play.

The bookies are offering odds of 6-1against an upset with Forest 2/5 and 9/4 that a replay will be needed. The second round winners will pocket around $44,000 each plus a place in the draw for the third round with the big boys. The full second round draw can be found here and this is a link to the latest news from the official FA Cup website.

Featured Games to date.
Extra Preliminary Round        Jarrow Roofing Boldon C.A.    5-2     Billingham Synthonia.
Preliminary Round                 Jarrow Roofing Boldon C.A     5-4     Thackley F.C
First Qualifying Round            Fleetwood Town                     3-0     Jarrow Roofing Boldon C.A.
Second Qualifying Round      Fleetwood Town                     4-2     Goole AFC 
Third Qualifying Round          Fleetwood Town                     2-0     Warrington Town
Fourth Qualifying Round        Fleetwood Town                     2-0     Wisbech Town
First Round                             Salisbury City                          3-0     Fleetwood Town