Wednesday 30 November 2011

Road to Wembley 2011/12 (2nd Round)

It was 2nd Round day and as I had other matters to attend to, I couldn’t pop down South to see the small town of Rye and their boys take on Three Bridges in the FA Vase.

rye008

Rye United play their football this season in the Sussex County League 1st Division and after coming 2nd last season, they are still doing well this time out in 2nd place going into this game, although they look like they could struggle to catch Pagham FC due to playing a few games more than the table toppers. Their home ground, The Salts also plays home to the local cricket club and so was a quaint little ground with a old school pavilion until it was destroyed in an arson attack in August 2010.

_wsb_517x251_Rye United - Southern Water 9

As Rye United and Three Bridges both play in the Sussex County League, they had already met this season at The Salts with Rye winning 3-0. I’ll let the Rye United website write up for this game do the talking. It makes for some interesting reading:

Bridges defender nominated for Oscar

It all started so well. Macca lobbed the keeper from 35 yards to give Rye the lead after 3 minutes. Then came one of two defining moments. First Liam Upton stormed down the left, lost the ball and lunged in to win the ball back. Foul, yes. Red Card, very harsh. Was the ref influenced by the Bridges defender rolling around screaming? Who knows? But why are we not surprised that he recovers and jumps to his feet as soon as the red card was flourished.

United were still running rings around the punching, stamping, Bridges journeymen until the second defining moment. 10 minutes into the second half, Luke Woodley is stamped on. The assistant looked to have raised his flag but play continued and Duncan flew in, two footed. A clear red card, yes, but no reference to the stamping which it appeared the assistant had witnessed. Still Rye held out until 12 minutes from time when Carney shot through a crowd to tie it up. Yet still the 9 men came back and Sam Adams hit the post before on 89 minutes, Carney proved there is no justice and gave the visitors the win.

Rye United 1 (McArthur) Three Bridges 2”

Even for me that is an exceptionally bias sounding report. I wasn’t there but it does seem to me that Rye lost their discipline and thus lost their place in the FA Vase. Three Bridges now have a trip to Essex for an away tie against Southend Manor as the Vase starts to get down to the exciting stuff. As for Rye v T.Bridges, Round 3 of this season’s clashes takes place at Three Bridges later in season (whenever Sussex County League decide to release the later fixtures). It promises to be fiery. Next up for this road, Saafend!

ROAD TO WEMBLEY 2011/2012:

1ST QUALIFYING ROUND: Croydon FC 1-2 Beckenham Town (Croydon Sports Arena, Att: 51)

2ND QUALIFYING ROUND: Beckenham Town 5-1 Fisher FC (Eden Park Avenue, Att: 58)

1ST ROUND: Three Bridges 3-0 Beckenham Town [After Extra Time] (Jubilee Field, Att: 68)

2ND ROUND: Rye United 1-2 Three Bridges (The Salts, Att: 105)

No comments:

Post a Comment