Charlton Athletic will kick off their FA Cup campaign on Sunday, when they welcome eighth-tier Cray Valley Paper Mills to The Valley.

The visitors have already progressed through five rounds of the competition to reach this stage and will make the short trip to The Valley aiming to continue their run with a historic upset.

Match preview

Charlton Athletic will begin their latest FA Cup journey on home turf on Sunday, as they aim to progress past the first round of the domestic competition for the third straight season.

While they did advance in their first outing last term, the Addicks' campaign would end soon after in the 2022-23 season, as they thrashed non-league Coalville Town 4-1 at The Valley before playing out a 2-2 draw with fourth-tier Stockport County and suffering a 3-1 defeat in the replay away from home.

In the midst of their fourth consecutive season in League One, the London outfit head into the weekend in a mixed run of form following Michael Appleton's appointment as manager in early September, having won five of their 10 games under the new boss while currently sitting 11th in England's third tier after 15 outings.

After returning from the international break with a 4-0 beating of Reading, followed by back-to-back defeats at the hands of Lincoln City and Bolton Wanderers, the Addicks were able to return to winning ways on Tuesday in a trip to Wigan Athletic, as they went 3-0 up through an Alfie May brace and Corey Blackett-Taylor's goal before holding out as Thelo Aasgaard and Stephen Humphrys scored late on for the hosts.

Now on somewhat of a high from that victory, which saw them move within five points of the League One playoff places, Charlton will now turn their focus to FA Cup action and bid to advance to the second round with a victory at home to eighth-tier opposition.

Their visitors, meanwhile, have already enjoyed their dose of FA Cup magic this term and will aim to continue a memorable run at the weekend, having progressed through five stages of qualifying to reach the first round.

The Isthmian League South East outfit began their journey in the preliminary round in August and got past Lordswood, Uxbridge, Northwood and Carshalton Athletic to reach the fourth qualifying round, with three of those contests settled by triumphant replays.

Having gone within one tie of another first-round appearance after a memorable 2020-21 bid, the Millers then hosted Enfield Town in mid-October and prevailed in impressive fashion, as they twice came from behind to eventually win 5-2 thanks to braces from Kyrell Lisbie and Freddie Parker alongside Adam Coombes's goal.

On the back of a victory and a draw in their last two league outings, Steve McKimm's side most recently enjoyed more cup success by beating Chatham Town 2-0 away from home in the FA Trophy first round last weekend, with Denzel Gayle and Malachy Turner on the scoresheet.

Now heading into arguably their biggest outing in recent years and a first ever competitive meeting with the third-tier Addicks, Cray Valley Paper Mills will bid to continue their fairytale cup run with what would be a historic result at The Valley.