WEST
AUCKLAND TOWN V SHOLING
An early start and a trouble free trip
following my tried and trusted route (a four hour drive to Banbury station and
a direct train to the stadium) used for Darlington’s Trophy triumph in 2011 and
Spennymoor’s Vase victory 12 months ago, got me to Wembley in good time to see
if West Auckland could get a similar successful outcome for the North East.
West Auckland were here just two years ago
when they lost to Northern League rivals Dunston UTS, but today they have
opposition from the other end of the country -
Sholing is near Southampton, and it is the ‘Boatmen’s’ first trip to the
National Stadium. The strength of the Northern League, whose teams have lifted
the Vase for the last 5 years, along with their Wembley experience, makes West
Auckland favourites but when two unfamiliar teams meet in a cup tie anything
can happen.
Heavy showers were forecast and have
arrived, and with the roof open the pitch will be slick and fast, but no
non–league player will complain about playing on this green carpet they call
grass.
Seven minutes to kick-off the orchestrated
preliminaries begin with filing out for presentation to the VIP of the day.
Sholing in red and white stripes (Sunderland-esque) and West Auckland in blue
tracksuit tops soon stripped off to reveal the familiar amber shirts.
It is sunny by the start and Sholing start
well, thrusting down the left where McLean shows worrying pace to force a foul
from Pattinson. West slowly get into the game and create a chance for Campbell,
whose placed effort is easily blocked by keeper Brown. Sholing break with pace,
this time Wort threatens the goal but West keeper Nixon blocks with his legs.
A pattern emerges with West Auckland trying
to play a passing game but giving the ball away before achieving any
penetration; Sholing are defending well and looking to break quickly with their
speedy forwards. The speediest, McLean, leaves Pattinson for dead again and
cuts inside before curling a shot well over.
Long range shots are exchanged with West’s
Knight having his effort parried by Brown and Sholing’s Fennimore blazed
attempt flying over the bar. Then West are awarded a free kick about 35 yards
out and Briggs’ excellent shot to the top corner is matched by a top notch save
as Brown tips it round the post. From the resulting corner the ball bobbles to
West centre forward Moffat but he can’t swivel and shoot.
The second half gets under way and the
pattern continues with huff and puff from West Auckland and sharper attacks from
Sholing. Nixon is troubled with a Bowers long shot that goes just wide, and then
has two unconvincing punches from dangerous crosses.
The teams exchange attacks with Masor having
a couple of chances for Sholing, one saved and one hit wide, and West Auckland
missing the target twice with efforts from Moffat and Campbell, both over the
bar.
On seventy minutes an excellent cross-field ball
is misjudged by West full back Pattinson and McLean on the Sholing left gathers
and speeds in on goal. Galpin gets across to cover but only succeeds in
deflecting McLean’s shot over Nixon and into the net. Sholing fans celebrate
wildly; West fans are stunned but soon urge their side on.
The response is impressive with first
Campbell then Briggs having goal-bound shots brilliantly saved at full stretch
by Brown. West the shuffle the attacking deck bringing on Richardson and Banks
for Moffat and Vipond. The speedy Richardson soon poses problems and a
promising run is only ended by a foul on the edge of the box; Knight’s free kick
is heading for the top corner until Brown intervenes again to finger-tip it
over.
West’s frantic efforts to equalise go up a
notch with added time due and even goal keeper Nixon joins in to attack a
corner. He does not connect but Galpin does, and this time Brown can’t reach
the header but sees it come back off the bar.
In these dying seconds Brown is rightly announced
as man of the match, and he is not troubled again as Sholing see out time
around a far off corner flag where their fans are gathered and where they are
able to celebrate their win.
West Auckland deserved better from their
last twenty minutes, but they began to play too late and even then the inspired
Brown proved unbeatable.
Sholing’s win owed much to two players:
McLean looked too good for Pattinson from the off and scored the telling goal;
and while keeper Brown looked anything but lithe he proved agile enough to get
to all corners of his goal as and when needed.
So the Northern League’s stranglehold on the
Vase is broken but the majority of West Auckland fans take it well and stay to
applaud the winners as well as their own team, possibly comforted by the
expectation of returning before too long for a third crack.
