Felixstowe & Walton United 5 Southend Manor 3

Emirates FA Cup Preliminary Round, Saturday August 21st

Saturday saw me make my first trip over to The Goldstar Ground in Felixstowe as Isthmian League North hosts Felixstowe & Walton United welcomed my local Essex Senior League side Southend Manor to the Suffolk coast for an Emirates FA Cup Preliminary Round tie, and it saw the hosts survive a late second half comeback from the visitors to progress in what was a fantastic cup tie.

The hosts were clear favourites to progress, they were a level above and had drawn their only league game so far, 1-1 at home to Basildon United, a club just down the road from Manor as it goes, whilst Manor's solid start to the league and cup campaign had hit the buffers somewhat in the week leading up to this tie after heavy league defeats at Saffron Walden Town and Stanway Rovers, conceding eight in the process, so this seemed a rather difficult assignment here.

This is the cup though and shocks are always possible, but the hosts began well and it was no real surprise when they hit the front after twelve minutes when a lovely diagonal cross field ball found Zak Brown, and his pace took him beyond Manor full back Ben Sargent before his cross into the six yard box found Oliver Canfer who with keeper Jack Allen committed to the ball across goal, saw a simple finish for the hosts striker and they had the early breakthrough.

Instead of this galvanising the hosts though, this seemed to wake Manor up, and for the next five or ten minutes of the game began to cause problems, and Luka Frankis had a golden chance to level when presented with a chance about ten yards out, but his effort was brilliantly tipped wide by hosts keeper Callum Robinson, and then moments later Manor had the ball in the net but the flag had gone up, much to their frustrations.

This was then compounded just past the midway point of the first period when The Seasiders doubled their lead after Henry Barley curled an effort towards the far corner from range, and saw Manor keeper Allen dive over the effort and see the ball end up in the back of the net, perhaps the keeper should have done better but it was a pretty decent strike and the hosts now had a two goal cushion.

Three minutes after this second goal though Manor did find a route back into the contest in controversial circumstances, as a free kick pumped into the box by Alex Jenkins saw it headed into the six yard box where Frankis was on hand to force the ball over the line. The hosts were furious as they claimed keeper Robinson had both hands on the ball before Frankis forced it in, but the goal stood and Manor had a deserved goal it had to be said.

Manor continued to compete well for the remainder of the first half, although they did have keeper Allen to thank for making some decent stops to prevent a third for the hosts, and the early exchanges of the second period saw a very competitive encounter, with Manor far exceeding many peoples expectations so far in this cup tie.

Just past the hour mark though it the hosts increased their lead though and restored that two goal cushion as a result as a ball headed towards goal saw a combination of keeper and defender keep it out, but the ball fell to the back post where Billy Holland was on hand to turn the ball home, and then ten minutes later it looked over as the hosts added a fourth goal when a wonderful pass from MIles Powell released Canfer in on goal, and he made no mistake, slotting beyond the onrushing Allen, and you feared that the hosts would add a few more before the end.

But this young Manor side refused to give up, they certainly have a toughness about them, and they made it 4-2 with just over fifteen minutes to play after some sleepy home defending allowed Jordan Chambers to get in behind and slot home, and then with nine minutes to go it was very much game on when a cross to the back post saw Chambers head into the danger zone and allow Joshua Devlin to convert at the near post, and the hosts were now rocking somewhat.

However, after several tense minutes for the home side, they finally sealed the deal deep into stoppage time when Powell managed to get himself in on goal and slot past Allen to end a spirited and determined Manor fightback and put themselves into the First Qualifying Round of the FA Cup.

An absolutely brilliant cup tie and well worth the nigh on six hour round trip on the train to get there, well done to Felixstowe & Walton United on your victory and I must say it was a wonderful set up they have there, and a friendly club too, whereas for Manor they can hold their heads high after a very good performance against a Step Four outfit, they battled right to the end so fair play to them all, it certainly helped making this a very entertaining contest indeed.

Full Time Felixstowe & Walton United 5 Southend Manor 3