After a long and fruitless trip to Leicestershire last midweek it was good to get back to some live football this Wednesday. I had decided to venture inside the M25 and take a look at Southall, fresh from their FA Vase odyssey which had finally been ended by Cleethorpes last Saturday. Their first opponents after the Vase were Harrow-based Broadfields United, making this something of a local derby. In fact, the game would be even more local if either these sides played in their own town. Southall are currently ground-sharing with Hanwell Town and Broadfields, The Fighting Cocks, play their home games at Harefield United's ground.

Still, not having been to Hanwell before either, it was almost like killing two birds with one stone.
Reynolds Field is situated just off the A40 in Perivale. There is a decent sized car park from which turnstiles take you into the ground itself. All of the main facilities, bar, snack bar, toilets, our housed in a quite impressive two-storey white building in the corner of the ground towards the car park end. On the A40 side of the ground, next to the clubhouse, is the main stand, a covered seating area. There is also covered standing behind the car park end goal and a small covered standing area and toilets opposite the main stand. The dug-outs are also opposite the main stand. The pitch has a slight slope from the car park end towards the Argyle Road end.
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I have to say that my first impressions of the people involved at Southall were very good indeed. Quite often my first port of call will be the snack bar to get a cup of tea. I was met by a very cheerful lady who was more than happy to pass the time of day as well as make a very nice cuppa. Next I spoke to a gentleman near the turnstiles, who was clearly a Southall official, just to clear it will them that I could use my GoPro. Again, he was a very cheerful gent (turns out that it was the club secretary) who was perfectly happy to chat about the recent Vase game and football in general. These people deserve recognition for giving such a pleasant public face to their club. First impressions count for a lot.

This was the first meeting of the sides this season. However, last year the two games produced 12 goals and six points for Broadfields. They won 4-3 in the corresponding fixture and 3-2 on their own patch. Despite their head-to-head dominance there was little choose between them in the final league placings, with Broadfields in eleventh and Southall one place and two pints below them. Again, this season, there is not much between the teams. Southall currently have the edge in seventh spot on 50 points. Broadfields are two places worse off and four points adrift of tonight's hosts.

​When the game kicked off it was The Fighting Cocks who started on the front foot. Kicking downhill, they immediately set about pushing a very sluggish looking Southall side backwards. The very nippy and tricky Billy Smith, in particular, was causing all sorts of problems for the Southall defence, especially Will Holland at right-back. More of Smith to come later in the report.
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Despite having all of the ball and making one or two pretty good chances, Broadfields could not find the goal that may have been a game changer. Instead, as so often happens, they ended up going behind to a classic sucker punch.
A rare Southall foray into the Broadfields half was repelled but when the ball was hoisted back in it was flicked on allowing Southall striker Ryan Debattista to beat the offside trap and produce a very neat lobbed finish past the stranded Frankie Atwell. 1-0 to Southall against the run of play.
The goal did little to redress the balance of play in the short term though. Broadfields were immediately back on the front foot looking for an equaliser, which was till very much illusive. This allowed Southall to slowly get a foothold and, by the end of the half, they had managed to play themselves back onto a level footing with the away side.

HT Southall 1 Broadfields United 0. The away side, no doubt, feeling very hard done to on the balance of play over the first 45 minutes.

The second half began with Broadfields looking to get the ball to the feet of the aforementioned Smith as much as possible and six minutes into the period, it came to fruition. Smith got the ball out wide on the left and drove into the box, evading a couple of challenges but then being held back as he tried to fashion a shooting opportunity. Despite the protestations of the Southall defence, the offence happened right in front of me and it was a clear pull back on Smith. I think the Southall complaints were borne ore out of the fact that Smith had, on a number of occasions, gone down very easily under challenge and they felt that he was guilty of simulation.
Whatever the case, the referee pointed to the spot and Smith got up, dusted himself down, and smashed the ball home to make it 1-1. 

Southall made a change at the back to try to nullify the threat from Smith, who immediately changed flanks. However, the next real talking point was around the Broadfields defence, namely their left-back, rather than the Southall back-line. After getting a silly yellow card for kicking the ball away Aiden Callanan then went in late on a Southall player, a challenge that probably would normally have deserved a second yellow. On this occasion, however, the referee decided not to brandish a card. A minute later the Broadfields bench, clearly knowing that they had got away with one, substituted the player.
Both sides had very good chances to win the game. Southall had a goal-bound effort cleared off the line and, after another mazy Smith run and cross, Southall keeper Michael Power-Simpson made a very good point blank stop.

FT Southall 1 Broadfields United 1. Probably a fair result on the second half showing but Broadfields will probably feel that they deserved more than a point for their display over the 90 minutes. An enjoyable game for the neutral and, as always, great to be out and about watching proper football. Good luck to both sides for the rest of the season. I don't think there will be many places between them come May.

Entry - £6 (including a very professional programme)
Tea - £1
​Pies eaten in the dugout - 0
 

Southall - @fcsouthall
Broadfields United - @broadfieldsutd

With a trip to Wembley just around the corner and a guarantee of a new name on the trophy, BotP takes a look at the FA Vase Quarter-Final line-up and attempts to give some insights into the chances of each of the eight remaining teams.
Very pleased to say that this review was also featured on the Non League Show (17/02/2017)
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​South Shields v Newport Pagnell Town
Shields are many people's favourites to win the FA Vase this season. After promotion from the Division Two of the Northern League last season they have been in sparkling league form again this term, only being kept off top spot by local rivals North Shields. Unlike their cross-Tyne neighbours The Mariners have never won the Vase (although they will probably point to their superior FA Trophy record). The best they can boast in the Vase is a Quarter-Final appearance in the 75-76 season when they lost out to the now defunct Friar Lane Old Boys. Having already disposed of last season's winners Morpeth Town (who incidentally knocked out Shields on their way to Wembley) on their own patch and then returned from an epic South coast trip with a 5-2 win, they will be feeling confident with a home draw.
The Swans make the long journey North after disposing of another North-East side, Sunderland RCA, in the last round, coming from two goals down at half-time to win 3-2 in extra-time. They have the debatable honour of being the team that confirmed my non-league geek status last season. Whilst waiting for Non-League Finals Day to get started I was chatting to my father and spotted two people, about 30 yards away, walking towards us wearing identical football shirts. 'Newport Pagnell Town supporters', I said and sure enough they were, much to the astonishment of my father who couldn't believe I could recognise a Step 5 shirt from that distance. Clearly the distinctive badge gave it away, but enough of my non-league obsession. Newport Pagnell are treading new ground in the Vase having only ever managed a Fourth Round appearance before this season. That came in the 2011-12 season when, coincidentally, it was another Northern League side, Ashington, who put them out with a 3-2 win at Willen Road.
Home advantage and the recent Northern League domination points towards a South Shields win in this one but rule The Swans out at your peril. They are very comfortably placed in the UCL Premier but with no real chance to go for promotion, so the Vase is their big chance to shine.
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​Southall v Cleethorpes Town
Despite being one of the two Step 6 sides left in the competition, Southall have, arguably, the greatest FA Vase pedigree of all the remaining sides being the only one that has reached a Wembley Final. In the 1985-96 season they saw off Hanwell Town, Barton Rovers and Stevenage Borough, amongst others, before going down 3-0 to Halesowen Town in the Final. Of course, in those days, Southall played in the Isthmian League 2 South alongside such names as Woking, Whyteleafe and Hungerford Town. It's been quite a tough route to reach the Quarter-Finals having had to play 6 games on the road to get this far. In the league it is fair to say that Southall are too far back to mount a promotion push this season, so you can imagine they will be 100% focused on a Wembley date.
The Owls are a relatively new side, only formed in 1998, and this is only their fourth venture into the FA Vase. They did, however, reach the Fifth Round last season before losing out by 2-1 to Kidlington. Steady league progress has been made over the last decade with the side rising from the Humberside league through the Lincolnshire League and the Northern Counties East League One before promotion into Step 5 at the end of the 2013-14 season. Clee then managed a fourth place the following season, third last season and currently site thirteen points clear at the top this term. Quite a remarkable rise through the pyramid.
This one is very hard to call. Cleethorpes are riding high in the league having only lost twice all season and a Step above their opponents. However, Southall have home advantage and have already seen off three Step 5 sides away from home in the competition. It really could go either way.
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Coleshill Town v Sporting Khalsa.
The Midland League is guaranteed a representative in the Semi-Finals even if Bromsgrove fail to progress on Sunday. This last Quarter-Final is a all Midland League Premier Division affair between two sides in the upper reaches of the table.
Taking away a blip in the 14-15 season where they went out at to Heanor Town in Round 2, Coleshill have an impressive recent record in the Vase. Including this season, The Colemen have reached Round 4 or beyond in three of the last four attempts. They have, however, never got as far as the Quarter-Final before. Two very impressive away wins, 3-0 at Gorleston in Round 4 and 6-3 at Crowborough in Round 5, have seen them progress past any previous achievements. They have already earned a 1-1 draw at Khalsa in the league this season.
Khalsa are also breaking new ground in the competition in this their tenth attempt. Their first seven appearances in the Vase ended in first game defeats but they reached Round 1 last season and have progressed to the Quarter-Finals this term with some very impressive results, 2-1 at Alvechurch, 3-0 at Ely City in the last round and a very solid 3-0 replay win at Sleaford after an incredible 5-5 home draw in which Khalsa scored an injury equaliser, had a man sent off and took the lead twice in extra-time.
Nothing separated these two in the league clash and there will, no doubt, be very little between them in this game.
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Bromsgrove Sporting v Buckland Athletic (Sunday 19/02/2017)
The Rouslers are the other Step 6 side left in the competition but having risen out of the ashes of Bromsgrove Rovers, a side who only 20 years ago were playing at Step 1 level, the club has a feel of a much bigger club. They play their games at Rovers' old ground, the Victoria Ground, which has just had it's capacity lifted to 3,000. They regularly attract crowds of over 600 for Midland League Division One games and will, no doubt, begin to move up the pyramid in the near future. The recent day incarnation made it to the 3rd Round of the Vase in only their second attempt, in 2014-15, eventually losing out to Thurnby (Leicester) Nirvana. This season they have disposed of Step 5 high-flyers Bristol Manor Farm and scored a colossal 30 goals in their 7 Vase games so far.
Devon based Buckland have never managed to get this far in the competition before although this is only their ninth attempt. The Bucks came up through the pyramid via the South West Peninsula League, winning the Premier League two years running, 2010 and 2011, before finishing runners-up in 2012 and gaining promotion to the Western League. They are currently in fourth spot in the Premier League twelve points adrift of Sporting’s previous conquest Bristol Manor Farm, but with two games in hand. So, not completely out of the promotion race but a big ask at this stage of the season.
As with all of the games, once you get to this stage of the competition every game is going to be quite tight. Buckland have the advantage of playing at a step above Bromsgrove but Sporting will be backed by a massive, vociferous crowd urging them on.

​Crawley Green come out on top of a hard fought SSML Premier League clash in a game where four of the five goals were scored kicking up the slope at Sharpenhoe Road.

Wednesday night's visit to Bedfordshire was very much a last minute deal. My original Tuesday night game plan was scuppered by a motorway closure then Wednesday's targeted game at Littleton was called off quite late on. However, a quick Twitter check revealed that Crawley Green's home game with Hoddesdon Town was confirmed as on. Crawley Green play their home games at Barton Rovers' Sharpenhoe Road stadium which I last visited for A rovers v Bedworth early season game in 2014 (http://www.botp.co.uk/blog/greenbacks-return-to-winning-ways).
From memory, it didn't look like many changes had been made to the stadium in the intervening years. The stadium boasts covered standing all along one side, a decent sized seating stand on the other side, a pretty large car park, and a comfortable clubhouse. The pitch itself has quite a pronounced slope from the Luton Road end down towards the Sharpenhoe Road end, which is where the car park and turnstiles are situated.

On this particular evening the pitch, at first glance, looked to be in pretty good condition but it soon became clear that there was plenty of underlying dampness which caused it to cut up quite badly in places. As the game wore on this must have made conditions quite tricky for the players in some areas.

Before getting onto the game, a small mention for the Crawley Green programme which is especially good for this level of the game. It came as part of the £5 admission fee and includes plenty of articles and statistics. A great effort all round.

As the teams entered the arena I wondered if Hoddesdon were deliberately playing mind games with their kit choice. Although there would be no clash between their normal white shirts and black shorts and Crawley Green's maroon outfit, they chose to wear their change kit of all blue. Coincidentally, or not as the case may be, this kit is rather similar to the Green's landlords Barton Rovers, so the whole ground is kitted out in their shade of blue making it look and feel like a Hoddeson home game. However, as The Lilywhites lost the reverse fixture, on their own turf, by 6-2 earlier in the season this may not have been the case.

It was about this point that I noticed home coach Bobby Males doing press-ups in the technical area. Something that he continued to do for a fair amount of the first half. quite impressive press-ups they were too. All the way down and back again with what looked like minimal effort, unlike my own efforts in boot-camp this lunch time.

The game kicked off with the hosts kicking up the slope in the first half and they immediately got into their stride. However, despite having the greater share of possession for the first twenty minutes and creating a couple of half-chances, it was Hoddesdon who almost took the lead when Joss Lillis went on a mazy run before clipping the far post with his shot.
The game remained goal-less but it was still, just about, Crawley Green who were edging it. Once again, however, it was the away side who almost broke the deadlock. From a right-wing corner that looked like it had been miss-hit, the ball reached the visiting centre-half on the edge of the box. He fired the ball home only for the assistant to flag for an infringement. This turned out to be a Lilywhites player in an offside position who the assistant judged was interfering with the goalkeeper's ability to react to the shot. I have to say, it looked like a very harsh decision to me and one which the visiting players disputed for some time afterwards.

To rub salt into the wounds, five minutes later Crawley Green took the lead. A move down the left and then a crossfield pass which found Joe Bradbury unmarked at the far post. He stroked the ball home amidst very vociferous claims of offside from the Hoddesdon defence. From my vantage point I couldn't say if the player was on or off but the Lilywhites players certainly seemed to be aggrieved. 1-0

The game was now really coming to a boil and Hoddesdon tried to hit back immediately. Lillis once again was at the heart of the move, playing a lovely give and go to open up the Crawley Green defence. However, stretching and being pushed slightly wide his shot clipped the near post this time and went for a goal kick.

Then with half-time almost upon us, Hoddesdon were hit by a classic sucker punch. An incisive through ball split their defence allowing Charlie Clayton to time his run perfectly, collect the ball, round the keeper and slide into an empty net for 2-0.

That took us to half-time and, although the home side had been slightly the better side Hoddesdon can feel a little hard done by to go into the break two goals down.
Half-time Crawley Green 2 Hoddesdon Town 0

There must be something about going up the slope at Sharpenhoe Road because when the second half kicked off it was Hoddesdon, playing against the incline, who started the better of the two teams. Once again, Joss Lillis was the man looking the most dangerous with the ball and it was the left-winger who created a goal for The Lillywhites just before the hour mark. Picking the ball up in his own half he jinked past a number of Crawley Green players, took the ball into the box and then cut back for Jordan Watson to fire the ball into the home net. A very good goal. 2-1.

The game was pretty open, with both sides pushing players up at every opportunity despite the worsening conditions in midfield especially. It continued to be a very entertaining game for the neutral. The conditions, however, were causing some 'interesting' challenges at times and one such incident led to the inevitable 'handbags' in front of the dug outs. The referee, with some rather enthusiastic whistle-blowing calmed things down, issued a yellow to a player on each side and we could continue with the game.

Four minutes after the incident Crawley Green looked to have made the game safe. A route one ball was deftly flicked on and, the man on the spot, Charlie Clayton was on his way again. This time, as the keeper advanced, he clipped the ball past him and into the far corner of the bet. A very accomplished finish to make it 3-1. This was Clayton's fifth goal in two games against The Lillywhites this season. 

I thought that was game over to be honest, I really couldn't see Hoddesdon getting back into it. They weren't completely dead and buried though. With injury time already ticking onto 4 minutes Tom Cowell grabbed a very late consolation goal. 3-2. 
Surely not enough time to equalise? They certainly gave it a go. Throwing caution to the wind, they won the ball back from the kick off and swarmed forward resulting in another shot at goal which was only narrowly wide.
That was the end of proceedings though. Full-time Crawley Green 3 Hoddeson Town 2.
A very entertaining evening of football and a deserved three points for the home


Crawley Green - @crawleygreenfc
Hoddesdon Town - @hoddesdontownfc

Risborough Rangers ground, Windsors, is situated a long throw-in from the main railway line into London and, as such, is a ground that I have passed many, many times. It has long been on my list of grounds to visit but, for a number of reasons, every time I have planned to go in the past, I have been thwarted. Tuesday evening looked like it may be yet another failed attempt after the amount of rain that fell overnight and persistently during the day. However, a tweet to the club revealed that no pitch inspection was planned so, after a quick trip home, I headed back down the M40 hoping that the rain did not get any worse.

Windsors lies on the South-Western edge of the town, directly behind the town's mainline station. It is, in effect, part of a sports complex with the town's tennis and cricket clubs being adjacent to the football stadium. The entrance to the ground is also the entrance to the club car park rather than there being a turnstile. All of the facilities at Windsors are on the car park side of the ground. The club shop/stadium announcers hut, the club house and tea bar and changing facilities all run down the car park side which is also covered for half of the length of the playing surface. There are a number of small seating areas and plenty of standing room. As it was still raining quite heavily, I didn't explore the rest of the ground too much. However, there doesn't appear to be any hard-standing on the other three sides of the ground, which is quite tightly hemmed in by red and white fencing. There is a small shelter on the opposite, railway, side of the ground but this seems to be used by a couple of staff members who collect stray balls on that side of the pitch. The whole place has a pretty nice, friendly feel to it, as so many non-league grounds do. An example of this was when I asked at the bar if there was a team sheet available. The stadium announcer happened to be standing next to me so he suggested I went with him to the 
hut where I could take a photo of the sheet. More of the stadium announcer later.
This evening's opponents were mid-table Winslow United who I had seen play a couple of times previously, their final home game of the 14/15 season (http://www.botp.co.uk/blog/april-08th-2015) and a Bucks Charity Cup tie the following season (http://www.botp.co.uk/blog/next-round-robins). The sides had not met previously this season but last year Risborough had won the corresponding fixture 3-2 before going down 3-0 at Elmfields Gate.

For some reason the game was quite late to start, the referee finally getting us under way at almost five to eight. Risborough were kicking down the slope in the first half and were quite quickly into their stride. However, despite having the lion's share of the play they were very wasteful in the final third. I lost count of the number of crosses that floated harmlessly into Winslow keeper Bradley Kirkwood's hands.
With 22 minutes on the clock the home side were made to pay for their errors when a clearance fell straight to Michael Reed on the Winslow right. He pushed forward a few strides before squaring to Grant Karwacinski on the edge of the box. The midfielder took a touch before firing a low, hard shot past Midwinter's right hand into the bottom corner of the net. A little against the run of play but you have to take your chances. 0-1.

Cue the stadium announcer again. Much like myself, he had no idea who had scored the goal. Winslow's white numbering on their yellow shirts is pretty much impossible to read from greater than 20 yards away. So the announcer ran over to the Winslow bench to confirm the scorer (which is how I got to know as well).
The game continued in pretty much the same vein as before. Risborough had more of the ball but were failing to make the most of their possession. That was until the 35th minute when we had 90 seconds that changed the game completely. Firstly, a free-kick from the Risborough right-flank was floated into the box. When the Winslow defence failed to clear, the ball dropped to Rangers centre-forward Kevin Mealor who squeezed the ball home despite the efforts of Kirkwood. 1-1.

Straight from the kick-off it was Risborough who won the ball back and, whilst I was still tweeting the equaliser, they struck again. This time some confusion in the Winslow defence allowed Mealor to scramble the ball across the line from inside the 6-yard box. 2-1 to Risborough.
That was how it stayed until the half-time whistle. HT - Risborough Rangers 2 Winslow United 1.

​Before kick-off I had also purchased a 50/50 draw ticket the winner of which was announced during the half-time break. Cue 
the stadium announcer once again. Fast becoming the star of the evening as he announced the winning number whilst assuring 
the crowd that there was no need to check their tickets because the winner was, in fact.......him. 

The rain continued to fall and although the pitch looked to be holding up very well, conditions must have been getting worse 
by the minute for the players. Winslow were out first for the second half clearly thinking, as did I, that this game was far from over. They had the advantage of kicking down the slope in the second half and made it clear from the first kick that they would try to take advantage it, launching far more long balls than in the first half.
However, it was Risborough who had the chance to put the the game to bed when they were awarded a penalty in the 52nd minute. 
Winger Wesley Young was gifted the ball on the right hand side and tried to make his way into the box. He was fouled outside of the box, which the assistant on that side flagged for, the players continued to tussle and Young was fouled once more, this time on the very edge of the box. The assistant at no point indicated a penalty but the referee, from the opposite side of the pitch, awarded it. This was probably a more shocking call than the draw for the 50/50 ticket. The incident happened very close to where I was standing and, although there was clearly a foul, it was not a penalty.
However, the man in the middle makes the decisions and he pointed to the spot, so James Shrimpton stepped up in an attempt to make it 3-1. He fired the ball to Kirkwood's left and into the net only for the referee to order a re-take for some encroachment into the box. The same player stepped up and put the ball in the same place. This time, however, Kirkwood guessed correctly and saved the attempt. Probably justice after the dubious decision to award the spot-kick. So, it stayed at 2-1.

Winslow continued to play the long ball game in the second half but credit has to go to home centre-half Steven Garbutt who marshalled the troops well at the back and mopped up the majority of balls that came his way. The home crowd around where I was standing grew edgier as the half drew on, fully expecting a Winslow equaliser at some point but it was not to be. Risborough saw it out and, in all fairness, probably deserved the three points.

FT Risborough Rangers 2 Winslow United 1.

Every time I had passed Windsors on the train I had thought that it looked to be a ground worth visiting. I was not disappointed. Yet another friendly club where you can watch a decent game of football at a fair price and enjoy a conversation with the locals. I must go back again when the weather is better so that I can fully appreciate the surroundings.

Risborough Rangers - @risboroughrfc
Winslow United - @winslowutdfc