Emirates FA Cup 1st Qualifying Round, Sunday 3rd September
I made a first visit to Arbour Park, home of Slough Town, for an FA Cup 1st Qualifying Round tie between Isthmian South Central Uxbridge and Isthmian South East Cray Valley (PM) on a lovely sunny Sunday afternoon in Berkshire.
Now Uxbridge as using Arbour Park, which by the way is a lovely venue (it reminds me very much of Melksham Town's new ground which is also very nice and similar in terms of the seated stands and bar area and balconies) as a temporary home whilst their Honeycroft ground is being renovated, and they should be back home around the end of this month or start of next, fingers crossed.
This meant that their first three competitive games of the season all came in the competition, thankfully they were drawn away from home in the first two rounds, defeating Tunbridge Wells before drawing with Corinthian Casuals and then beating them at Arbour Park in a replay, and they did not actually begin their league campaign until the bank holiday weekend, however they netted two wins from two over that weekend meaning they have won four of their first five competitive fixtures of the season, a decent start you could say.
Cray Valley (PM) have also began the season confidentially too, taking seven points from nine and netting sixteen goals in the process, seven of those goals came at Phoenix Sports on Bank Holiday Monday in a 7-2 win, so that took them into this contest in good spirits too, they had also netted a replay win over Lordswood in this competition after drawing the original tie, meaning they have won all but two of their five games thus far this season and are also unbeaten.
Two sides then who have started the season well, it all pointed to a decent cup tie in Slough, but with eight minutes on the clock the hosts gifted the visitors the lead and it kind of set the tone for the afternoon as well, Uxbridge defender Sean McGuiness lost the ball inside his own penalty area to the lively Kyrell Lisbie who duly squared the ball to Freddie Parker who had the simple task of side footing home with keeper Loris Marcimain committed to the cross, not the start the hosts were looking for and the perfect one for the visitors.
Lisbie in fact got himself on the scoresheet just before the half hour mark as well, a lovely ball into the box was flicked around the corner into the path of the winger who applied the finish to double Cray Valley's lead, and if truth be told the visitors should have been out of sight at the break after they missed several guilt edged openings, but at least they did have two goals to show for their efforts, Uxbridge could count themselves they were still in the contest, albeit only just.
The hosts needed the next goal that was for sure to have any chance of staying in the contest and the cup, and they did force a couple of decent stops from visiting keeper Sam Freeman, but Cray Valley had chances to kill the tie themselves, and with just over twenty minutes to go finally added a third goal to end the contest when Matthew Vigor was played in to curl beyond Marcimain.
Cray Valley then more than did enough to win the game, they were a constant threat to their opponents and a special mention must go to winger Michael Ademiluyi who had a superb game and on another day could have netted at least a couple of goals himself, you can see why they have netted so many goals so far this season, and they now go through to the next round of the competition.
Uxbridge had their chances, especially second half, but they were well beaten here if truth be told and were lucky they didn't lose by a lot more, sadly for them they exit the competition and lose their first game of the season, they now must concentrate on the league for now and continue their good form in that.
Full time Uxbridge 0 Cray Valley (PM) 3
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