FA Vase Preview of the 2nd Qualifying Round

The CCL has 18 clubs competing in the FA Vase this weekend. Here is a brief preview of the matches coming up.

Abbey Rangers in their first ever Vase campaign have been drawn at home to the romantically named Tytherington Rocks, who also play at Step 6, in Division One West of the Hellenic League. The Rocks have not done too well this season with just 4 points from their 6 league matches to date. Tytherington is situated around half way between Gloucester and Weston Super Mare and will be travelling 116 miles to meet Abbey. It would be a nice little trip on a Wednesday evening for Abbey if the match should be drawn on Saturday.

Banstead Athletic, also from Division One, entertain Step 5 Cray Valley (PM) from the Southern Counties East League in which they sit in 15th place our of 19. The PM stands for “Paper Mills” and Cray are one of only two clubs in the Non-League System to have part of their name bracketed, the other being Ashford Town (Middlesex) of our own league.
Redhill also face opposition from the Southern Counties East League but they have to travel, to Beckenham Town, who are currently 10th. Redhill have finally got their season going though and will be looking to push on.

Bedfont Sports host Buckingham Athletic who play at Step 6 in Division One of the Spartan South Midlands League.

We then come to Chertsey Town who have been drawn at home to Tadley Calleva, from the Basingstoke area and who play at Step 6 in Division One of the Wessex League. They came close to promotion last season but are down in 12th place at the moment with 7 points form their 6 league matches.

Next we have an all CCL tie between Division One Cobham and Premier Division Sutton Common Rovers. The clubs will know each other well, with SCR having ground shared at Cobham for several seasons until moving to Sutton United this season.

AFC Hayes may well have the longest journey of all the CCL clubs as they trek up to Cogenhoe United, who are 9th in the United Counties League. Cogenhoe is just east of Northampton and is a journey of around 70 miles for The Brook.

Next is Badshot Lea who will journey to Fairford Town, who play in Division One West of the Hellenic League. They are Gloucestershire based giving the Baggies a trip of around 78 miles.

Frimley Green have again received a home draw and will meet Thame United from the Hellenic League, Premier Division. This will be a tough one for Frimley with Thame currently 7th in the table.

Hanworth Villa will host Oxhey Jets from the Spartan S. Midlands League, Premier Division. The Jets have been misfiring this season with just two wins and seven defeats so far.

Hartley Wintney face Milton United, 14th at present in the Premier Division of the Hellenic League. The Row have gone virtually unbeaten all season so will be favourites for this one.

Knaphill will meet yet another Gloucestershire side in the shape of Lydney Town from the Premier Division of the Hellenic League, in which they currently sit in 15th place.
Another club with a long journey are Farnham Town who have an 81 mile trip to play Malmesbury Victoria in Wiltshire. They are a Step 7 side who play in the Wiltshire Premier League in which they are currently in 2nd place.

Westfield have a home match and will meet Carterton FC from Division One East of the Hellenic League in which they are at the top of the table. They are Oxfordhire based and have a 72 mile trip to Westfield.

Windsor are also at home and will entertain the newly named Royal Wootton Bassett Town, also from the Hellenic League Premier Division in which they are currently mid table in 11th place.

Finally, on Saturday Epsom Athletic will journey down into Sussex to meet Worthing United, who have been in the news recently following the awful deaths of two of their players in the Shoreham Air Accident. Our clubs almost always seemed to play against Sussex opposition but this is the only tie involving both a CCL club and a Sussex club. Worthing have a symmetrical record so far this season with 2 wins, 2 draws and 2 defeats and have scored 15 goals and let in the same number. Epsom’s results have been anything but symmetrical in their results this season fluctuating from big wins to big defeats. Let’s hope this is a “big win” game for them.

There is one tie on Sunday when CB Hounslow will travel to Southall in an all Middlesex affair, kicking off at 2.00 p.m. at Hanwell Town. Southall are in the Spartan S. Midlands League Division One and currently in 17th place. They are, of course, ex-members of the CCL.

Good luck to all CCL clubs this weekend. The draw for the 1st Round Proper will be released on Monday morning, when the winners will be joined by Ashford Town (Middx), Camberley and Cove, leaving Colliers Wood to come in at the 2nd Round Proper stage, after reaching the 4th Round last season.