Havant & Waterlooville  

They are the club that everyone in NonLeague Football were talking about in 2007/08 as the FA Cup giant-killers beat Swansea City before sensationally taking the lead at Anfield against Liverpool.

The Hawks have certainly made a great impression on the game since Havant Town and Waterlooville FC joined forces 1998. 

Havant were formed in 1883 and played in the local Portsmouth leagues until 1970 when, after merging with FA Sunday Cup holders Leigh Park, they became members of the Hampshire League’s Fourth Division.   

By 1977 they had achieved First Division status but a lack of facilities meant further progress was impossible.  This changed in 1982 when the now renamed Havant Town moved into their present ground at Westleigh Park.   

Founder members of the Wessex League Town won promotion to the Southern League in 1991, soon establishing themselves in the Southern Leagues Southern Division. 

Waterlooville were formed in 1905 and gradually progressed from local football to the Hampshire League joining the Southern League in 1971.   

They won the Southern League Division One South at their first attempt but then became something of a yo-yo club flitting between the Southern and Premier Divisions.   

Financial problems at Waterlooville were the catalyst to the merger with Havant Town and this duly went ahead in 1998 with the new club enjoying immediate success by winning Southern League Southern Division in their first season and attaining promotion to the Premier Division.   

In 2001/02 Havant & Waterlooville made a bid for Conference football but eventually finished third though the following season they made an impact on the national stage by reaching the semi-final of the FA trophy before losing out to Tamworth.   

2003/04 saw the Hawks just do enough to qualify for a place in the newly formed Conference South. 

The club adjusted well to the higher level of football but were denied a play-off place in 2005/06 when a three point deduction for fielding an ineligible player meant they missed out by a single point.   

Havant & Waterlooville did achieve a play-off place the following season but a heartbreaking semi-final defeat to Braintree Town saw them miss out on promotion though they did reach the First Round proper of the FA Cup.   

And it is in the FA Cup that the club excelled again in 2007/08 taking the scalp of Football League sides Notts County and Swansea City in a great run which was only just brought to an end by a rattled Liverpool side.