Next May the FA Cup Final, football’s oldest and famous competition, will hopefully return to its most spiritual home of Wembley Stadium. The twin towers may have been replaced by an impressive arch but the new ground can hardly wait for the big day.

In the first round of the FA Cup, football threw up its traditional names and unexpected surprises. The giantkillers may have been few but once again the unknowns gave their richer cousins a bloody nose. It was a weekend when the butchers, bakers and candlestick makers from the game’s non-league basement met the relative toffs and aristos from the bottom two divisions of the Football League. This was the FA Cup on a level playing field and a healthy pay-day for good measure.

For as long as one can remember, the FA Cup has always had historical moments and household names. There was the 1953 Matthews Final when Sir Stanley tied up the Bolton defence in knots. Matthews was one of the FA Cup’s most gallant heroes and Blackpool its most deserving winners. Then there was the 1966 Cup Final when, a couple of weeks before England’s World Cup day of days, Everton stormed back from two goals down against Sheffield Wednesday to win 3-2.

In the 1974 Final, Liverpool’s Bill Shankly and Bob Paisley, two of the most respected managers in English football history, sent out touchline instructions to the Anfield players which will never be forgotten. They waved their arms and pointed furiously in football’s equivalent of morse code. By this time Liverpool had already ripped Newcastle to shreds and the Merseysiders’ 3-0 win was almost academic.

At the first round stage this year, there were no such hilarious histrionics. However, one or two non-league bosses must have been longing for a life on the stage, with Yeading manager Nevin Saroya looking for the trap door after the west London side were demolished 5-0 by Nottingham Forest.

At Nene Park, the FA Cup’s most famous giantkillers were being given a taste of their own medicine by Rushden and Diamonds. When Alec Stock’s non-league Yeovil conquered mighty Sunderland of the First Division in 1948, football’s high rollers were rocked back on their feet. But in the first round of the 2006-7 FA Cup the little Somerset town, now lording it in League One, were crushed by the new league kids on the block.

On the south coast Brighton, who once suffered a demoralising 8-2 defeat at the hands of Bristol Rovers now discovered eight of their own goals. Northwich Victoria were the unsuspecting victims. You suspect there were one or two parties in the seaside town’s Regency buildings. Not exactly a goal bonanza more a blitz.

In the one major Cup upset of the day, the little Hampshire country squires of Basingstoke sent League One Chesterfield packing. Roy McFarland’s Carling Cup darlings were bewitched, bothered and bewildered by the Conference South side, whose 1-0 win gave them a passport into the second round.