Pretty Good Progess in the Vase

The weather did not disrupt any of the 13 1st Round FA Vase ties played on Saturday involving CCL clubs and the final tally, including the 3 clubs who enter the competion at th 2nd Round stage, will be 14 CCL clubs taking part in the 2nd Round.

Perhaps the most credit should go to one of the losers, Rising Ballers (Kensington) who had the thankless task ot playing away to Premier South leaders Farnham Town. Farnham are the only NLS club in the country to have won every single league match so far this season and yesterday's match became their third victory in the Vase but RB restricted their opponents to just a single goal victory.

Our Division One performance overall was impressive with no less than three of our Step 6 sides also getting through, with all of them overcoming Step 5 opposition. Eversley & California travlled into Sussex and beat Horsham YMCA on pens after a 1-1 draw., whilst both Amersham Town and Woodley United knocked out CCL Step 5 clubs in Fleet Town and Virginia Water, both winning on penalties after drawing over 90 minutes.

All wins in the competition are good but Wembley's at Fisher, 3-1, saw our Premier North side upset the odds against their Southern Counties East opponents whilst the biggest margin of victory was achieved by Holyport who also beat opposition from that league, winning 3-0 at Sutton Athletic.

Our other winning sides were Bedfont Sports, currently in a rich vein of form, Burnham, Cobham, Hilltop, and North Greenford United.

The draw on Monday will see 8 clubs from Premier North involved, plus 3 from Premier South, including Jersey, and the three from Division One, as mentioned.

In the League, we lost just one match to a waterlogged pitch at Flackwell. All the others went ahead with Jersey Bulls returning to the top of the league with their 4-2 victory away to Camberley, although Farnham have numerous matches in hand. Coming up on the rails are Tooting & Mitcham who look to have settled down at Step 5 after something of a stuttery start.