Buckhurst Hill 2 Wroxham 3

Buildbase FA Vase Third Round Proper, Saturday December 11th

My latest FA Vase Road To Wembley contest saw me at Roding Lane as Buckhurst Hill took on Wroxham, and the visitors fought back from two goals down at the break to net a late winner and progress into the Last 32 of the competition.

This was billed as another potential cracker of a cup tie, Buckhurst Hill sat third in the Thurlow Nunn Division One South table having won fourteen of their eighteen league games so far, whilst Wroxham sat second in the Thurlow Nunn Premier having won sixteen of their twenty league games thus far, and just a solitary point behind Gorleston, who Hill had seen off in dramatic style in the last round.

The hosts had seen off Enfield, Newbury Forest, Great Yarmouth Town and as said before, Gorleston, to reach the Last 64 of the competition in their very first season in the Vase, whereas Wroxham had slayed Godmanchester Rovers, Benfleet and then Newmarket Town on penalties to reach this stage, and both teams knew this contest would be a tight affair in sodden conditions at Roding Lane.

Could the hosts upset the apple cart again though? Well, they had the perfect start as after just two minutes Sam Sollosi's lovely through ball found his brother Nathan Sollosi, and with the Yachtsman expecting the flag to go up, they stopped, and Nathan Sollosi strolled through to slot home across the keeper, and the underdogs had a dream start to this tie.

The hosts were full of confidence, and that dream start turned into a scarcely believable one when a loose ball inside the Wroxham box fell to Nathan Sollosi, and he duly thumped an effort into the roof of the net and sent the majority of the large crowd inside the stadium into raptures, 2-0 up after eighteen minutes, they could not have dreamed of a better start to this huge cup tie.

Wroxham did have a couple of moments going forward, but found Dan Blockley in the way both times, but the half belonged to the hosts who had seemed to have shell-shocked their opponents somewhat, and they could easily have had a couple more goals before the break as they looked to possibly seal this tie before half time, however they did go into the break two goals to the good and in an excellent position to progress into the Final 32 of the competition.

Wroxham though don't have the record they do this season in all competitions for nothing, and they knew they needed the next goal if they were going to pull themselves back into this tie, and with no doubt their managers rocket ringing in their ears still from the half time discussion, they pulled one back ten minutes into the second period when a ball squared across goal found Conley Poynter who fired a superb effort past Blockley, and it was now game on.

This galvanized the visitors briefly, and they so nearly levelled when an effort thumped back off the inside of the hosts post before being cleared, but Buckhurst then had some great openings to grab a third and possibly kill this tie, but they failed to take these opportunities, and thirteen minutes from time where punished as after a header had come back off the bar, Ryan Curtis eventually managed to bundle home and bring Wroxham level, setting up a grandstand finish to this one.

It had been a superb battle in awful conditions, but would either side find a winner or would this tie have to be settled by the dreaded penalty shoot out? Well, as the clock ticked into the 90th minute, Wroxham won a free kick twenty yards out in a central location, and up stepped Ryan Miles to curl his set play beyond Blockley and into the far corner, sending the visitors wild, it had been some comeback after a poor first period, and Buckhurst Hill had stoppage time to try and find a leveller and take the time to penalties.

They certainly came close to doing that as well, but some heroic defending from the visitors thwarted the hosts, throwing their bodies in front of efforts and really digging deep for the cause, it really was fantastic to watch, and then came a break away for the visitors, but host keeper Blockley came miles out to try and win the ball but took out the attacker who tried to go round him, and inevitably Blockley got his marching orders, meaning Henry Day took over in goal for the final moments.

After almost nine minutes of stoppage time though, the referee brought this pulsating cup tie to a close, and it was Wroxham who had won through to the Last 32 of the Vase, what a game of football it was between two totally committed sides, it is a shame their had to be a loser, and sadly for Buckhurst Hill it was them, they certainly did not deserve to lose this one, but they can hold their heads high and now concentrate on promotion to Step Five, which they fully deserve.

Fair play to Wroxham too, they were in big trouble at 2-0 down, but they dug deep and pulled themselves level before netting late on to take a fantastic victory and put themselves in the the hat for the next round, a thoroughly enjoyable afternoon, and I now await to see who The Yachtsman draw in Round Four.

Full time Buckhurst Hill 2 Wroxham 3