NO FA CUP GLORY FOR US THIS SEASON

The 143rd season of the oldest football tournament in the world got underway on Saturday with 732 teams from around the country dreaming of FA Cup glory (and prize money!). Unfortunately, our hopes were dashed at the first hurdle with our guests from Somerset running out deserved winners and it will be their name that will go into the hat for Monday’s draw for the next round.

This was our opponent’s debut in this prestigious cup competition having only been founded in 2015 following the merger of 2 clubs namely Nailsea Town and Tickenham United. By comparison this was our 19th season in the FA Cup and our 33rd game. In the first 9 seasons we did rather well getting past the Extra Preliminary Round on 8 occasions but our record in the last 10 seasons has been less impressive with just 2 wins to our name.

The contrast with our performances in the FA Vase is very different having reached the 5th round last season before succumbing to a late goal from Bury AFC. We were honoured by the Spartan South Midlands League for this achievement.

We started this game brightly with Harry Jones just failing to get on the end of one of Lee Stobbs trade mark crosses but after that our opponents racked up the pressure and we looked rattled. The Swags (as they are known) were a big, powerful side and they caused us all sorts of problems particularly from the many corners they won.

In the 7th minute the visitors hit the left-hand post from the edge of the area and our keeper Eric Negraru parried away the follow up shot. Eric was kept busy during the early part of the half and he did well to tip away a shot from centre forward Lucas Vowles. We just couldn’t seem to get going and it was no surprise when the Swags opened the scoring in the 29th minute when Nick Buxton converted a corner. Score 0-1.

A few minutes later Vowles smashed a shot off the top of the cross bar and we managed to clear the danger. Eric was called into action again getting down to his right to make a fine save to keep the deficit to just one goal. HT Score 0-1.
After a torrid first half we could have been 3 or possibly 4 goals behind but we kept the deficit down to one goal and we were still in the game. We made some changes to our formation and personnel and we played much better after the break and the game became more evenly balanced and stretched as spaces started to open up around the pitch.

We did create some possible opportunities to get behind our opponent’s defence but we were let down by some over hit passes. When we did get some crosses into the box they were confidently and safely gathered in by the visitor’s impressive keeper Jason Mellor who was also their skipper and was afterwards awarded the Man of the Match.

Despite a step up in our performance we failed to create any clear-cut chances and with 11 minutes of normal time left the Swags put the game to bed when Luke Osgood headed in a fine cross to the far post. Score 0-2.

We kept going and Club Skipper George Carbery worked himself into a good shooting position but his effort was safely dealt with by Mellor. FT score 0-2.

This was a disappointing afternoon but we need to give our opponents a lot of credit because they were superb particularly in the first half and they fully deserved the victory and we wish them all the best for the rest of the season.

Fortunately we now have a break until next Saturday when we travel to Baldock Town which will give us time to prepare for another tough fixture and hopefully give our injured players like Dave O’Connor and Giueseppe Delgaudio time to recover.

On a happy note we should congratulate Joel Anker who was on the bench for MK Dons in their impressive 5-3 win at newly promoted Wrexham. Joel was on loan with us and although he only played 4 games he showed what a good player he was and we shall be watching his progress with interest.

Team: Eric Negraru, Lee Stobbs (Capt), Harrison Cornick, Tommy Smith,Greg Deer, Frankie Hercules (80 Jake Cowley), Jack Harvey (70 Harrison Mead), Harry Shepherd, Max Hercules, Josh Chamberlain, Harry Jones (59 George Carbery). Subs not used: Jamie Ovington, Luke Peerless

Goals:

TA: -

N&T: Nick Buxton (29), Luke Osgood (79)

Crowd : 125