Newbury Forest 1 Buckhurst Hill 7

Buildbase FA Vase 2nd Qualifying Round, Sunday September 26th

Sunday saw me over at Oakside for my latest FA Vase game in my Road To Wembley, and it pitted two sides from the Thurlow Nunn Division One South as Newbury Forest hosted Buckhurst Hill, and the visitors netted seven as they progressed into the First Round Proper, setting up a nice long away trip to Great Yarmouth Town in three weekends time.

The afternoon did not start well for the visitors though, as they should have been awarded a stonewaller of a penalty inside two minutes when Nathan Sollosi was felled, but the referee inexplicably waved away their protests, it was a terrible decision and the visitors were furious, and Sonny Shilling said too much and was sin binned by the referee, so not only did they not have a penalty, they were now a man down for ten minutes. 

And their frustrations were compounded after five minutes when Steve Carvell volleyed the hosts ahead, this after good work from Chaka Barnett, and Forest looked to take advantage of the extra man whilst they could, but Hill managed to regroup and as the half went on looked more and more likely to level, but they missed some guilt edged chances, two of which fell to the normally efficient Suleyman Zuhdu who missed two absolute sitters, unlike him, and it looked as if it was going to be a frustrating day for the visitors.

But, then came a devastating six minute spell from the visitors at the end of the half that all but ended this tie, firstly finally finding the net in the 39th minute when Nathan Sollosi fired a decent effort across goal and in off the inside of the post, and barely a minute later Zuhdu made up for his howlers earlier by firing a brilliant effort into the bottom corner from outside the box, and Hill had turned it around just like that.

Forest were rocking now and it was quickly 1-3 a minute before the break when Shilling made up for his sin binning earlier in the half by curling a delightful effort in off the far post from the right side, and then it was 1-4 a minute later when Zuhdu had a second as he curled another wonderful effort into the far corner, and left most of us inside the ground shell shocked. Forest had been hit by a train and the contest was all but over at the break. Devastating from the visitors, as clinical a six minute spell I have ever seen in fact, extraordinary.

You felt it was only pride and maybe damage limitation Forest were playing for now, but nine minutes after the break Hill made it five as Nathan Sollosi's ball through to Falola saw him beat the offside trap and have all the time in the world to fire home, and you really feared for the hosts now as this was in danger of getting ugly for them.

To be fair to them though they did not fold and in fact created several decent openings, including thumping an effort against the bar on one occasion, but they could not find any more goals to try and make the score line a bit more respectable, and although the visitors saw Henry Day sent off for a second booking after pulling back an opponents who looked to be going through on goal, they managed to add two more near the end to add gloss to the scoreline.

They made it six with two minutes left when Shilling strolled through to slot home, and he then completed his hat-trick to cap a rather interesting day for himself as he fired home from the edge of the box after the hosts had backed off him, and make it seven for the visitors, which in truth was a bit harsh on the hosts who had played a huge part in this tie.

However, that devastating spell at the end of the first period was the killer for Forest, a blow they could not recover from, well done to the visitors though who now have a very winnable tie at Yarmouth in the First Round Proper on October 23rd.

Full time Newbury Forest 1 Buckhurst Hill 7