After not being able to get to a midweek game it was good to see a number of FA Cup fixtures being played on Friday evening.There were a few to choose from but the opportunity to visit a ground that had been on my list for a few years was too good to miss. So, straight from the office, I did battle with the M25 and the M3 and headed South towards the city of Winchester and the FA Cup 1st Qualifying Round tie between Winchester City and AFC Stoneham.

The Ground
As I said, this ground has been on my list for a little while now. So long, in fact, that I still think of it as the Denplan Stadium whereas it is now The Simplyhealth City Ground. There seems to be ample parking at the ground but I parked on a smallish, free, car park opposite the entrance, thinking it may be easier to make a getaway for the long journey home.
The ground is accessed through a turnstile block that brings you in at the corner of the ground that houses the clubhouse and changing facilities, which are set back a short way from the actual playing area. There is a separate snack hut on the rugby club side of the ground. Adjacent to the snack hut is the main covered seating area and then just a little further along is a small, uncovered seating stand. On the opposite side of the ground, between the dugouts, there is a covered standing area, with another, smaller, covered area at the car park end of the ground behind the goal.
Look out for the impressive variety of club stickers on the cistern in the Gents toilet, including quite a few from German level 4 outfit Alemannia Aachen.

The Background
Winchester City are in their fifth consecutive season of Step 4 football after a period of yo-yoing between the Wessex Premier and the Southern League for just under a decade. Stoneham gained promotion to the Wessex Premier for the first time in their history last season. Promotion, and the title, was clinched following a thoroughly entertaining 3-3 draw at Totton & Eling, a game that I had the privilege to be present at (Grand Finale).
There is no previous FA Cup history between the sides but, as the grounds are only around 12 miles apart, it's safe to assume that there have been meetings in local and county cup competitions over the years.
The Game
The opening encounters of the game gave pointers to the tight game that was to follow. Neither side was able to establish any kind of real dominance. However, it was Stoneham who seemed the more fluid, moving the game much more quickly than Winchester, an observation backed up by frequent shouts from the home bench to make their passing sharper and move the ball around more quickly.
In a game of few clear-cut chances, we were approaching the 15th minute before we saw the first shot on target and it was the away side who managed it, with Laycock forcing Pryce into action for the first time.
Winchester finally got a shot on target after 35 minutes when Danny King forced Fredericks to get down low at his near post. However, The Citizens were clearly missing the presence of top-score Simba Mlambo

HT Winchester City 0 AFC Stoneham 0. A close encounter. AFC Stoneham looked the more dangerous of the sides but Winchester started to look a little more lively towards the end of the half

​Despite home side starting to get a rhythm going at the end of the first-half, Stoneham still looked the most likely to break the deadlock. With that said, they were not giving Pryce too much to think about in a game of very little goalmouth incident.
On 65 minutes City's Olly Balmer got free and cracked an effort against Fredericks' left-hand post, reminding the away side that possession doesn't win games. They've not been threatened too much all game but could easily have found themselves a goal down.

After a little lull in the game, Stoneham seemed to be upping the pace again before, as often happens, getting caught out at the back by a rare Winchester foray on 79 minutes. 
A defensive mistake or maybe just a slip - hard to see from where I was - gave Citizens captain Jamie Barron a sight of goal from inside the box. He made no mistake, threading the ball past Fredericks to make it 1-0. Somewhat harsh on Stoneham who, despite playing in a division below their hosts, have looked the better side for large parts of the game.

Winchester almost immediately started finding more space on the pitch as Stoneham pressed forward searching for an equaliser. The last 10 minutes promised to be the most action-packed part of a game that, to be honest, has failed to spark.
Sure enough, in the tradition of last-gasp cup drama, Stoneham grabbed an equaliser in the 91st minute, when Matt Palmer popped up in the box to guide the ball past Pryce. 1-1 and a deserved leveller for Stoneham, and what sounded like a sizeable away following.

FT Winchester City 1 AFC Stoneham 1. I'm sure neither side particularly relishes a=having to wedge another fixture in but they will have to go again in midweek.

Winchester City: Pryce, Williamson, King, Emmerson, Douglas, Flooks, Griggs, Barron(c), Bailey, Hill, Balmer. Subs: Hayward, Birchnall, Smith, Gilbert, Nurse, Davis, Haylor

AFC Stoneham: Fredericks, Stupple, Dunne, J.Parker-Trott, Palmer, Clarke, Clark, Welch(c), Laycock, Bainbridge, Hills. Subs: Jiminez, T.Parker-Trott, Kerton, Galloway, Laptas, Snelling, Hogan

Att: 259
Ground Number: 206
Entrance: £ 10.00
Programme: Included

The First Qualifying Round of the FA Vase is rapidly approaching. So, following on from the recent interview with Pinxton FC boss Kenny Shinfield (In The Ken), the second in the series of build-up articles looks at eight ties featuring previous winners of the competition. The sides concerned are Whitley Bay (4 times winners), North Shields, St Helens Town, Brigg Town (2 wins), Diss Town, Hoddesdon Town, Arlesey Town and Whickham

Whitley Bay v Barnoldswick Town
Northern League Division One v North West Counties Premier
Whitley Bay have won the competition more than any other team but that doesn't stop them having to qualify. With 5 games gone in the current season, The Seahorses sit smack bang in the middle of the Northern League Division 1 table, having won 2, lost 2 and drawn 1. They'll be hoping for a better return in the Vase than they got in the FA Cup where they went down 7-1 at home to Hebburn Town. Balrlick have started quite well in the North West Counties Premier campaign with just one defeat in four, winning their last two outings. However, they too suffered a big FA Cup defeat, going out 6-1 to Longridge Town. The two actually met in last season FA Cup, at the Preliminary Round stage, with Whitley Bay running out 6-1 winners at Hillheads.
Hillheads Park, NE25 8HR. https://whitleybayfc.com/information/club-info-2/

Sunderland Ryhope CW v North Shields
Northern League Division One v Northern League Division One
At the time of writing these two are level on points in the Northern League Division One table, although one-time FA Vase winners Shields are two places higher on the back of their superior goal difference. In the FA Cup they also suffered similar fates after both initially drawing. The Robins went out 1-0 in their replay at Guisborough whilst Ryhope lost 2-1 at home to local rivals Sunderland RCA in their return match-up. They have met in the FA Vase as recently as the 2014-15 season, the year that North Shields went on to win the competition, with The Robins cruising to a 3-0 victory. North Shields are the first of only two previous winners to be drawn away from home in the 1st Qualifying Round.
Ryhope Recreation Ground, SR2 0AB. http://www.northernfootballleague.org/team/ryhope-cw/

St Helens Town v Rossington Main
North West Counties Division One North v Northern Counties East Division One
One time winners St Helens Town have not started their North West Counties Division One season as well as they would have hoped. Just one win and three defeats from their first four games has left them in 18th place, one place worse off than they finished last season. The plus point, so far. is that their only win was a resounding one, 6-0 over Cleator Moor Celtic. They take on a Rossington side who have also only won one league same far this season.This will be the first meeting of the teams.
Ruskin Drive, WA10 6RP. http://www.sthelenstownafc.com/

As always, many thanks to the utterly brilliant Football Club History Database for being such a great point of reference for research.

After a well needed break in the South of France, it was time to get back to some Tuesday night football and what better way to resume the season than an FA Cup match under lights?
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The Ground​
After leaving the Badshot Recreation Ground in 2007, The Baggies have had a nomadic existence. Groundshares with Farnborough, Godalming Town, Ash United and, most recently, Camberley Town have finally been replaced with a ground of their own. Westfield Lane was officially opened in July of this year when a crowd of 660 saw local rivals Aldershot Town run out 3-0 winners.

The new ground is situated in the village of Wrecclesham, just to the South-West of Farnham town centre. There is a reasonably sized car park adjacent to the ground. However, this was completely full for this game and there is not really much extra parking nearby (my only gripe about the ground). Access to the ground is through a new turnstile and to the rear of one of the goals.

​Also at this end of the ground are all of the facilities, the standard clubhouse, snack bar and players & officials area.  There are two stands, one adjacent to the clubhouse looking directly down the touchline and the other, a seating area, to the left of the pitch as you look from the clubhouse end. As you would expect with a new ground, it is very neat and tidy with lots of gleaming white fencing around the pitch. A very nice place to play and watch football.
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One thing that I could never get used to, however many times I visited this ground, is the Welcome to the home of The Baggies sign. As a former West Bromwich Albion season ticket holder, there is something not right about this sign being written in claret & blue.

​The Background
The cup draw had thrown together the current two top teams in the Combined Counties Premier League both Badshot Lea and their opponents Ascot United went into Saturday's cup tie having played two and won two in the league. Badshot Lea opened with a 4-1 win at Sutton Common Rovers and followed that with a 5-0 thrashing of newly promoted local rivals Frimley Green.
Ascot, who due to ground resurfacing were forced into playing away from the Racecourse Ground at the opening of the season, had started with a 2-0 win at Cobham and a 3-0 win at Egham Town.
The meeting between the sides on Saturday (also played at Westfield Lane because of Ascot's ground refurbishment) had, by all accounts, been a very good game. The Yellamen raced into a 2-0 lead before The Baggies came back at them, equalising with practically the last kick of the game to force the replay.

Neither side has ever managed to make it out of the Qualifying Rounds of the FA Cup. Badshot Lea's best effort came in the 2012-13 season when they got to the 3rd Qualifying Round before going down 3-1 at Step 3 outfit Chippenham Town. Ascot's First Qualifying Round replay defeat to Tonbridge Angels signifies their best run but after a 2-2 draw at home the Yellamen were defeated 7-0 in Kent.

​The Game
The Baggies clearly had learned a lesson from going two goals down on Saturday. They started the game with a much higher tempo and verve than their opponents, pressing Ascot back almost from the kick-off. The pace and trickery of Danilo Cadete on the right-wing was obviously an area that they had targeted as a means to get in behind the defence. With former Farnham Town winger Nick Medcraft on the opposite flank and the very lively Meshach Williams through the middle, they were giving Louis Brouwers and his Yellamen defence plenty to think about. 

The home side came close to taking the lead on a number of occasions in the first 25 minutes, with both Williams and Hutchings missing reasonably good chances. Ascot spent a lot of this time in their own half, but did look a threat when they managed to break, James Richardson causing some concern with his runs.
Then, on 27 minutes, Ascot forced a corner with some very neat inter-passing play. The ball was sent over from the right and met with a powerful header from captain Brouwer. The effort was blocked on the line but fell invitingly for Harry Laflin to make no mistake from close range. 0-1. Against the run of play, but the Yellamen were not going to be concerned about that.
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The goal had the dual effect of boosting Ascot and deflating Badhsot Lea. For the remainder of the half the side looked very much evenly matched, Cadete's runs down the right were curtailed and the Ascot defence didn't look under as much pressure as it had done earlier on. It was, in fact, Kallum Lunn  in the Badshot Lea goal who was probably the busier towards the end of the half making a great save from a Lalustani effort to keep his team in the game.

HT Badshot Lea 1 Ascot United 0. After a fairly one-sided opening 25 minutes, Ascot snatched a goal from nowhere and the game evened up. The Baggies will wonder how they managed to go into the break a goal down.

​Badshot Lea looked fired up for the second half but, to their credit, Ascot looked well drilled and withstood everything that was thrown at them, whilst still looking fairly dangerous themselves.
That was until the 67th minute when a period of two minutes completely changed the game.
First of all, a break down the left from The Baggies resulted in a superb cross being played into the gap between the last defender and the goalkeeper. Meshach Williams forced himself in front of his marked and was able to fire the ball into the roof of the net to make it 1-1.
Before the Yellamen could even draw breath, Badshot Lea were at them again, winning a corner on the right. The delivery caused some chaos in the Ascot defence, the ball falling to substitute Nic Ciardini, who lashed it past Gray to make it 2-1.
In the blink of an eye, just like a Basil Brush punchline, "Boom, Boom!" Badshot Lea had gone from a goal down to taking the lead.

Ascot were reeling but soon picked themselves up and tried valiantly to get themselves back into the game. This led to a breathless last 5 minutes where the away side completely laid siege to the Baggies goal. They had one cleared off the line, one saved and also hit the post, but it just wasn't to be for them. The home side were hanging on a bit at the end but, overall, just about deserved to win the game.

FT Badshot Lea 2 Ascot United 1. The Baggies will now face Wessex Premier side Christchurch in the next round.

Badshot Lea: Lunn, Blake, Roberts(c), B.Hutchings, Flanaghan, Lloyd, Cadete, Matthews, Williams, Hawker, Medcraft. Subs: S.Hutchings, Thrupp, Carter, Ford, Ciardini, Smith
Ascot United: Gray, Burdon, Haworth, Carey, Bouwers(c), Ellis, Merrick, Denton, Lalustani, Laflin, Richardson,. Suns: Lock, Taylor, Carlisle, Hodges, Wensley, Bennett, Davies

Att: 123
Ground Number: 205
Entrance: £7.00 
Programme: £2.00

The First Qualifying Round of the FA Vase takes place at the end of August. It's an opportunity for those clubs lower down the pyramid to have a cup run, possibly make a few extra pounds and even secure a giant-killing. Plenty of Step 7 sides, especially those with promotion in mind, will relish the chance to pitch their wits against a team in a higher league. With that in mind, BotP managed to get the views of Step 7 Pinxton FC's manager Kenny Shinfield ahead of his club's tie with Step 6 Birstall United.

Pinxton FC, based in the village of Pinxton just off the M1 J28, play their football in the Central Midlands South. They are consistently - barring a blip 3 seasons ago - placed well above halfway in the league. They finished third last season and are once again tipped to be one of the contenders this term. As far as the FA Vase is concerned their best effort was reaching the Third Round in 2015-16, before going down 4-3 at home to Nuneaton Griff. The game was attended by The Wycombe Wanderer (@RussWWFC) . You can read his account here. 

Much as I  feel that the FA Vase is a wonderful competition, we were very interested to get the low-down on what it meant to a club such as Pinxton. Would it be seen as a necessary distraction or is the competition embraced by clubs further down the pyramid? I posed the question to Kenny. His reply, "The FA Vase means everything to a small club like Pinxton. This is the non-league FA Cup. We always like an away trip were we can share the bus with fans and family." In one answer epitomising everything that is good about this competition and non-league football at this level. It's not about personal gain. It's not even about personal or, for that matter, team glory. It's about fans, family and the community.

However, the FA Vase has limited prize money despite it being increased in recent years. The early rounds are very closely regionalised, which keeps travel costs down to a minimum and can create some interesting local derbies. I asked Kenny if there came a point, maybe if the team progresses to a less regionlised round, where the competition became an nonviable prospect for smaller clubs but he was having none of that, stating that every game for Pinxton was special.

So, how far could Pinxton realistically hope to progress this year? I loved the response to this question - "A decent return for a club like Pinxton would be 3 or 4 wins, but you never know and we will give every game our best".
That's the joy of the FA Vase, especially at this stage. The Step 7 sides, and even the majority of Step 6 sides, know that they should only, at the very best, expect to progress to the Second or Third Round. However, there is always that hope that this season they will be the 'minnow' who surprises everyone and keeps a run going to who knows what stage.

Having said Pinxton would give every game their best shot, I was reminded that they finished third in the league last season, an improvement of one place on the previous season. So, would, the focus be on promotion this season? Would progress in the Vase be seen as hindrance to this goal and, consequently, would Kenny consider saving players for league games rather than risk injury in a Vase match and reducing their chances of going up? 

No such thing in mind from the boss though. "Promotion is our main aim, we have been up there for too many seasons to mention, but we will always play our strongest team in the Vase." 

Pinxton's Welfare Ground stadium meets Step 6 requirements, so there would be no problem with them taking a place at that level should they attain promotion.

I was also interested in Kenny's personal thoughts about the FA Vase, especially around the prize money and how far he had managed to progress in the competition as a player. The answer to the latter being not far enough. Pinxton, who Kenny also played for for most of his career, did not enter the Vase until he was already in his 30s. As a result, a 2nd Round appearance was his best return. Maybe he can go further as a manager? 
As for the prize money, Kenny's take on this was - "The money is great, we are playing for nothing week in week out so every little helps for us"

The Vase has provided some lasting memories for Kenny. For instance, in Pinxton's first FA Vase adventure in 2010-11, when a last minute free-kick from Kieron Debrower secured a 2-1 win over Bottesford Town. The following season a depleted Pinxton side travelled down to Nottingham to play Dunkirk. With just 12 players in the squad and two 16 year-olds in the side they made the trip back up the M1 with an unexpected but thoroughly deserved 4-1 victory under their belts.

As the draw for the Second Qualifying Round has already been made, I asked Kenny about the possibility of facing his former club, Heanor Town, in the next round. In true managerial style, the answer was that all thoughts would be on Birstall first but, with Heanor being just a few miles away, the prospect of a local derby would make it a special match with plenty of local interest.

Pinxton v Birstall United - Saturday August 31st (3pm KO) at The Welfare Ground, Pinxton, NG16 6LG. 

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