Great Yarmouth Town 1 Buckhurst Hill 5

Buildbase FA Vase First Round Proper, Saturday 23rd October

Saturday saw me make the long trip up to Norfolk for a second weekend in succession, this time it was to the seaside town of Great Yarmouth, for a first trip to The Wellesley for my latest instalment of my FA Vase Road To Wembley, and it saw the visitors put in a vintage performance to outclass their opponents to reach Round Two.

It was a very early start for me, leaving my flat at 6.30am for the beautiful surrounding of Buckhurst Hill, this was because I had been invited to travel on the coach with the club to Yarmouth, which left the club soon after 9am, so a nice gesture from the club who expected no money from anybody for it, so for this I thank them immensely, which saved me a lot of money, so always grateful for that.

And soon after we left chairman Simon Cornwell stood up to do a speech and he spoke from the heart and it showed how proud he was of what the club had achieved over the last few years, and it reminded me how much this day meant to him and the club, travelling to an FA Vase First Round Proper contest on a coach, unthinkable only a few years ago, so this was another big day for the club, and I was honoured and blessed to be part of it.

Cornwell spoke to me during our stop off too and about the plans he had laid out going forward, he is certainly a forward thinker and with him at the helm the club will go far, that is for sure, it's nice to see a chairman who deeply cares about his club, and the club deeply care about him too, so this is refreshing to see, that is for sure.

On arrival around an hour or so later at The Wellesley we were greeted by some friendly Yarmouth committee who directed us into the ground, and once in I got to see for the first time the old main stand many had been telling me about, and what a stand it is, it was officially opened on 11th June 1892 and is thought to be the oldest surviving Football Grandstand in England, so that is some feat indeed, marvellous stuff.

It felt like you had gone back in time as well, there was a lovely old covered terrace on the far side too, which is were I ended up standing, and the wooden park benches in front of the main stand, plus the Tea Hut next to the stand with very friendly people to serve you, it was a marvellous place to be, absolutely loved the ground, so well worth a visit if you have not been before.

Anyway shall we talk about the game and the clubs involved? The hosts sat third bottom in the Thurlow Nunn Division One North having picked up eight points from nine games, but most of their five defeats had been by the odd goal, and they had defeated Thurlow Nunn Premier side Walsham le Willows 1-0 at home in the last round of this competition, so they were not to be taken lightly that was for sure.

Buckhurst themselves were having a superb first season as a senior club, they were four points off the leaders with two games in hand having only lost once in twelve league games, winning nine of those, and netting thirty seven times in those games and only conceding six, on paper at least it seemed there would be only one winner in this tie, but this is cup football and you never can tell what could happen.

The visitors had already netted ten goals in their two Vase ties so far this season too, and after just four minutes of this tie they had two more as it seemed the contest could already be over inside five minutes.

Skipper Suleyman Zuhdu set the tone by curling home a delightful right footed effort after just three minutes, and then he just a minute later he fired home a second from inside the box, and you already feared for the home side as the visitors are a side who do not let up, the hosts could not live with the visitors pace and one touch passing, and Zuhdu so nearly had his hat-trick when after one such move from deep inside the own half saw him thump a powerful effort against the bar.

The football being played by the visitors was some of the best I had seen this season, it would have caused many clubs at Step Four and Five problems, so poor old Yarmouth had no chance of dealing with it, and just past the midway point of the first period it was 0-3 when Zuhdu turned provider, squaring across the goal line for Sonny Shilling to slide home at the far post, the hosts looked shell shocked and were looking at each other, they were being mesmerised by what was total football from the visiting side.

More chances come and went for the visitors, including Zuhdu striking the bar with another effort, but moments before the break came a rare lapse from the visitors when a poor header back saw Brady Philpott sneak in to slot home, and from nowhere the hosts had been given a small lifeline, the visitors were fuming, they had been utterly dominant but had potentially handed the hosts a route back into the contest.

No doubt some choice words were said about that incident at the end of the first period in the Buckhurst changing room, and they wanted to come out and put it right and make sure The Bloaters had no chance of getting back into the game, and seven minutes after the break came a fourth goal for Hill as a wonderful pass from Alfie Harris saw Nathan Sollosi, who did not have to break stride, slot first time across goal into the far corner, it was a wonderful finish and pass, and the visitors had quickly restored their three goal cushion.

The hosts body language wasn't great, that goal had knocked the stuffing out of them, and it got worse for them just past the hour mark when more superb play from the visitors saw a lovely pass from Nathan Sollosi found Keaton Moore on the left whose lovely pass into the box found Shilling who side footed home is second of the contest and Buckhurst's fifth of the afternoon, it was a brilliant goal it really was, a joy to watch, unless you were anything to do with Yarmouth!!!

The visitors probably took their foot of the gas a bit thereafter, the tie was more than won by now, Yarmouth's number nine Kyle Baker looked useful and hard working, but he had no service whatsoever as the hosts barely threatened the visitors solid back line throughout, it had been a tough afternoon for the home side, and at one point one of their players shouted to the referee 'How Long left?' which kind of summed up their mood, they just wanted the pain to end.

Buckhurst did have more chances to add more goals, but could not, however it has been a vintage performance by them and had totally outclassed their opponents today to take their spot in Round Two of the competition. Fair play to Yarmouth though who were very complimentary in defeat, and their hospitality throughout had been second to none so thank you for that. They even gave us a create of beers for the journey home, a very nice touch indeed.

That journey home was fun filled too, lots of beers and music flowing, and karaoke being done at the back of the coach by several playing and staff members of the club, even manager Mark Williams sung some Elvis!!! Brilliant stuff and shows the togetherness of this team, if the draw favours them going forward they can go very far in this competition, nobody will relish drawing them in the next round that is for sure.

Finally, just want to thank Buckhurst Hill for allowing me to be part of their day, it was very much appreciated so many thanks for that, look forward to the next chapter in the Vase this season!!!

Full time Great Yarmouth Town 1 Buckhurst Hill 5