Sadly, our great run in the FA Vase came to an end on a cold and increasingly foggy afternoon last Saturday. Facing our third side from the Southern Counties East Premier Division – having also faced two sides from their First Division – we made Deal Town work hard for their 2-0 win. There is perhaps some comfort that we performed better than our fellow SCFL team Newhaven, currently in third place in the league. In the Second Round, Deal Town sailed the short distance around the South Coast and came away with a 4-1 win. The match report is here, and if you have some time to spare, then a VERY in depth report may be found here. Focus now turns to the league with a trip to Eastbourne Town this evening and to AFC Varndeanians on Saturday.

Our journey to reach the Third Round to equal our previous best performance, and on the way setting a record of four wins and five matches in a single season’s competition, started in the warmth of the August Bank Holiday weekend. In the first of three consecutive away draws, we travelled to Chipstead’s compact and slightly undulating pitch to play Tooting Bec. A 4-0 win there gave us a tougher proposition of a trip to the seaside at Whitstable Town. Two late goals sealed a 2-1 win and passage to the First Round Proper. I presume the use of qualifying rounds, and preliminary rounds in the FA Cup, allows the FA to keep a set structure of ‘proper’ rounds in place with a varying, mainly increasing, number of entries.

A short trip down the motorway to Ditton was rewarded with a 4-1 win against Greenways FC. The Second Round brought Tunbridge Wells on a short journey from Kent to Horley for a tight game but a 1-0 win for The Lingers. The team and coaching staff should be proud of their efforts in the FA Vase – being amongst the 64 best Tier 9 and 10 teams in England in no mean feat. The success has brought with it some financial reward and should result in entering next season’s competition in a later round – there seems to be no set structure for this so is presumably decided once entries have been received. Starting in September allows time to find some early season form.

In a ‘see what you could’ve won’ moment, yesterday’s Fourth Round draw saw Deal Town get a visit from Cobham FC of the Combined Counties League Premier Division South. We would have fancied that. Currently there are 49 teams still in the last 32 as the weather decimated the weekend’s fixtures. Hats off to Tier 10 Stanway Pegasus for making the Fourth Round where they will be joined by the winners of an all Tier 10 match while three others are yet to complete their matches against Tier 9 opposition. There are no other SCFL sides left as Eastbourne United lost on penalties after drawing 1-1 with Holmesdale and Roffey were beaten 1-2 at home to North Greenford United.

Favourites to win the competition are Farnham Town – remember winning a penalty shootout at their ground on the way to winning the 2019 Surrey Saturday Premier Cup anyone? – who made the pages of The Daily Mail for winning ALL thirteen league matches played so far.