SOUTHALL PROGRESS TO THE 5TH ROUND OF FA VASE
Southall FC, the only Middlesex FA affiliated club still engaged in the FA Vase, entertained Clevedon Town in the Fourth Round on Saturday last, 15th January and our roving team of Chris Benn (photographer) and Jim Taylor (reporter) went along.
Clevedon Town, a Step 5 club like Southall, currently play in the Western League Premier Division. They reached this stage of the competition with two impressive away victories, against Bemerton Heath Harlequins (4-1) and Brixham (6-0). Southall had previously beaten Erith & Belvedere (3-0 at home) and then won penalty shoot-outs against Chatham Town (home) and Guildford City (away).
Mainly because of the wet weather, neither team had seen much recent match action. Southall’s previous competitive game was in the Combined Counties League Cup on 14th December, which they had also won via a penalty shoot-out, just three days after their FA Vase match at Guildford.
Saturday’s tie, between two well matched sides saw Southall record their third consecutive FA Vase shoot-out victory, after a hard fought 1-1 draw.
Clevedon had the better of the early exchanges. In the 4th minute Archie Ferris headed a cross from Ellliot Nicholson back to Ethan Feltham, who volleyed wide under pressure. Then, after 10th minutes, Alex Camm intercepted a clearance from the home keeper but shot narrowly off target.
Southall then got into the match and Elliot Nicholson made a goal saving tackle to stop Luke Henneghan. A strike by debutant, Jack Woods was blocked and a cross shot from Alex Nolan was cleared off of the goal-line.
This pressure paid off and Southall went ahead in the 27th minute through Lenny Farhall, after Jack Woods had twice hit the post in some frantic goalmouth action.
In the 34th minute, Clevedon’s Archie Ferris set up Ethan Feltham, whose shot was deflected for a corner by Louis Dailey. This was the first in a succession of Clevedon corners, which eventually ended with Berkley Laurencin making a high catch.
Southall almost doubled their lead just before the interval, when Clevedon keeper, Charles Lovell made a great reflex save, to turn a close-range header from Carl Pearce over his cross-bar.
Score at half time: Southall 1 Clevedon Town 0
Southall made the first scoring attempts of the second half. Louis Stead’s shot from around 25 yards was too high. Charles Lovell saved Carl Pearce’s header from a corner. Then Lovell had difficulty with an awkward low shot from Stead, which he grabbed at the second attempt.
However, Clevedon Town equalised after 62 minutes, when Frankie Taylor unluckily turned Alex Camm’s cross into his own net.
Both sides had chances as they went for the winning goal. Lenny Farhall’s shot skimmed the visitors’ bar. Berkley Laurencin saved from Mitch Osmond. Alex Camm’s long shot was wide. A Jack Woods effort was blocked by Glen Hayer. Koju Abayomi fired over from Luke Henneghan’s pass. Finally, Berkley Laurencin saved low down from Freddy King to ensure that Southall once again went to a penalty shoot-out.
Score after 90 minutes: Southall 1 Clevedon Town 1
The subsequent spot kicks were all of exceptional quality and the nine scoring shots gave the respective goalkeepers very little chance of saving, even when they guessed correctly. Charles Lovell did manage to get a hand to two of the Southall kicks.
The unsuccessful match deciding penalty (Clevedon’s second) was taken by Archie Ferris and crashed against the foot of Berkley Laurencin’s right-hand post. Berkley went the right way for this kick and could possibly have got a touch.
The successful penalty takers, in order of scoring, were Mitch Osmond (CT), Alex Nolan (S), Louis Stead (S), Freddy King (CT), Luke Henneghan (S), Oliver Babington (CT), Jack Woods (S), Syd Camper (CT) and Ryan Hope (S).
Penalty shoot-out score: Southall 5 Clevedon Town 4
SOUTHALL: Berkley Laurencin, Alex Nolan, Frankie Taylor, Louis Stead, Carl Pearce, Louis Dailey, Ryan Hope (capt), James McCluskey (Darreon Mark 84 mins), Jack Woods, Luke Henneghan and Lenny Farhall (Koju Abayomi 65).
Unused substitutes: Joe Clifton, Dan Clifton, Joe Wylie, Nathan Dennis, Lewis Putman.
Manager: Max Howell.
CLEVEDON TOWN: Charles Lovell, Elliot Nicholson, Alex Kemsley (Oliver Babington 46), Callum Kingdon (capt), Glen Hayer, Callum Eastwood, Syd Camper, Mitch Osmond, Archie Ferris, Alex Camm (Cameron Salmon 76) and Ethan Feltham (Freddy King 79).
Unused substitutes: Morgan Davies and Archie Heywood..
Manager: Micky Bell
Referee: Alan Cresswell Assistant Referees: Ahmad Rafique and Andrew Hickman Fourth Official: Robert Alderton.
Attendance: 98
Following the draw, Southall will face Stansfield in the last 16 of the competition on 12th February as they look to find their way to Wembley.
As ever we thank Chris & Jim for their valuable time to cover this game, they have selected their favourite shots from the game as displayed throughout the report, Chris has also kindly supplied a full album of imagery from the match.