FA Cup First Round Qualifying

[Rhodes]

16 hours ago, Rhodes said:

FA Cup First Qualifying Round

Grays Athletic 3 Potton United 1

A groundhopper from another Forum was at this one, do Hoddesdon Town still do 'door wedges' in the Essex Senior League like they used to in the SSML:

Grays Athletic 3 v 1 Potton United - FA Cup 1st Qualifying Round
Door Wedge 80 pages £2.00 - Admission £10.00* - Att. 271
* Test and Trace stall outside and despite another download, it appears to be the case that EvenPass and the new dog and bone will never be friends.

Being of a RM17 bias, this was an excellent evening out, but one from a home perspective could have easily have gone very awry as at the thirty minute mark a neutral with little knowledge of the game at our level would have surely been of the opinion that Potton were plying their trade at a much higher level than their opponents.
The visitors were to use a greyhound track euphemism 'quick out of the traps', in fact very quick and were a threat from the opening minutes, quickly creating chances. David Etheridge flashed a drive wide of the far post and then the same player went much closer angling narrowly past the other post. A further surging run from Etheridge was ended by a clumsy nudge by Lewis Clark inside the area resulting in the inevitable pointing towards the penalty mark by the man in black. There was an inevitability that it would be Etheridge given his prior involvement who would take the penalty and he successfully placed past Danny Sambridge. Soon after and it would have been fully deserved for the visitors if they had doubled their lead when Abraham Eze's overhead shot from a narrow angle had not been headed off the line by Clark. The healthy following down from East Bedfordshire were exultant, the constantly on their feet grouping in front of this especially so.
Curiously, after half an hour the threat from the visitors waned and it would not be remiss to say that it almost disappeared, even more a paradox as even the most seasoned of Grays supporters would say that this was hardly a vintage display. Slightly against the run of play when Mitch Hahn's long deep cross from the right saw Ryan Melaugh time his run at the back post to perfection and he nodded in the leveller and from then on the bright lights of Potton's opening play were negated by a turning of a dimmer switch.
The second half was more subdued than the first and it was gradually becoming clearer that there was a difference in levels between the teams. The first of two telling long throws from Hahn was flicked on by Pat Ahern at the near post and Tony Stokes mere inches from the goal line had the simplest of chances to volley into the empty net to give Grays the lead. There was a let off for the hosts soon after when Pyman could not direct his header goalwards but this was the only real chance of the second half when the visitors showed that they were in terms of quality an ordinary South Midlands League team. The hosts assumed a position of largely controlling proceedings and the could have made made progress to the next qualifying round secure but Moroyin Omolabi shot straight at Josh Mollison, however it was only a matter of minutes before progress was ensured, another long throw from Hahn which was only half cleared as far as Omolabi and his exquisitely struck twenty yard drive met with the merest of deflections before beating Mollison for pace and finding the far corner. Overall one of those contests that defied initial expectations and was both intriguing and entertaining.
Evening spent in the always welcome company of Mr Druryszki with us undertaking early preparatory planning for (if we are allowed to) future trips including the possible pinch point of the Second Qualifying round, which if the National League decide not to commence their season at this stage raises several questions about the whether their regional entrants will see it as being viable to actually play.
After a day of sitting on the sofa with w*rk laptop on the lap, the original plan was to healthily undertake the journey between The Riverbank and Parkside in both directions. Regrettably, w*rk related tasks intervened meaning a later than anticipated departure and a train and bus journey on the outward trip. The need to undertake some exercise prevailed for the return and walked taking in the sights of Thurrock in approximately eighty minutes. Indoors at 23.10....

[Rhodes]

On 21/09/2020 at 22:49, Rhodes said:

Disappointment for New Salamis, Brentwood Town were a strong side and there were two tiers difference afterall, at least there's still the FA Vase:

FA Cup First Qualifying Round

New Salamis 1 Brentwood Town 2

Match reports, I didn't know three players were dismissed late on and Brentwood finished with nine men:

https://www.newsalamisfcuk.com/news/fa-cup-result-new-salamis-1-2-brentwood-town-fc-2570726.html

http://www.parikiaki.com/2020/09/a-big-thank-you-from-new-salamis-to-the-uk-cypriot-community-for-their-support-during-their-historical-fa-cup-campaign/