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Lowestoft battle back from brink to fulfil Wembley dream

Ask Geoff Price, the chairman of Lowestoft Town, how many tickets the club has sold for the FA Vase final against Kirkham & Wesham on Sunday and he will tell you...13,572.

That kind of precision is typical of the sharp business practices he has brought to the club since his arrival in October - helped by sales now being closed, although the remainder of Lowestoft’s 15,000 allocation will be available on the turnstiles at Wembley.

In January last year the Ridgeons League club from Suffolk were on the brink of closure, with £92,000 debts and a a tax bill of just under £20,000 due to the Inland Revenue. Lowestoft survived that crisis with Gary Bennett, the club sponsor, rallying support from the town at a series of meetings. A benefactor and ardent fan, who prefers to remain anonymous, settled the tax bill.

Beadle's about no longer as Newport ring the changes

All has not been sweetness and light at Newport County AFC since the South Wales club missed out on the chance to make the Blue Square South play-offs.

Peter Beadle, the manager, was dismissed in the wake of the 2-1 home defeat by Fisher Athletic that meant that each of his two full seasons in charge had ended with last-day failure to qualify for the play-offs.

Rumblings among the players about the prevailing uncertainty were aired in the pages of the South Wales Argus, which moved Chris Blight, the chairman, to issue an open letter in which he promised that an appointment would be made by the end of next week. The newspaper followed by publishing a strong statement in support of the nature of its coverage of the club.

The farrago is a direct consequence of the impatience running through the club to secure a return to the Conference, and so regain the status held by the original Newport County when they went out of business as the bailiffs moved into their former ground Somerton Park in 1988.

AFC Wimbledon fans provide impetus for upwardly mobile Brown

Walter Gammie at Wheatsheaf Lane

Staines 1 AFC Wimbledon 2

AFC Wimbledon, fuelled by extraordinary support in a crowd of 2,460, secured the third promotion of their six-year life when they won the Ryman League premier division play-offs final away to Staines Town 2-1 on Saturday.

Wimbledon’s progress had been stalled by defeats in the play-offs semi-finals in the past two seasons, but Terry Brown worked the magic in his first season as manager, as he had at Aldershot Town in 2003. He had also won the Icis League in 1996 with Hayes, so the personable 55-year-old was completing an Isthmian League hat-trick.

Brown acknowledged the advantage in resources conferred by Wimbledon’s enviable fan base that allowed him the luxury of greater firepower on the bench than a lively and luckless Staines side, whose more demanding finish to the season caused them to run out of steam. “The supporters have been spectacular,” Brown said. “They’re special. We’re losing 1-0 in the play-offs again with ten minutes to go and I’m not getting grief ? they’re giving the players 100 per cent support.”

Staines had led from the 36th minute with a close-range header from Matt Flitter until Luis Cumbers dived in to head a hotly disputed equaliser after 82 minutes. James Courtnage, the Staines goalkeeper, was adamant that he had been fouled when he dropped a long throw-in to allow Nic McDonnell to cross the ball. Alan Boon, the Staines chairman, said: “We had a wonderful season, but I’d rather have lost 4-0 because it’s so unfair that a decision can cost you an entire season. It sours the occasion.”

Three minutes later Mark De Bolla drove in a free kick for the Wimbledon winner. De Bolla, a substitute, had taken to the pitch in a Wimbledon shirt for the first time since February. He was fresh, having picked up a five-match ban for being sent off twice in a week while on loan to Bromley. De Bolla does not yet know whether the goal will earn him a new contract or merely a place in Wimbledon legend. “It was a great feeling to have those fans behind us,” he said. “They will take this club back into the League.”

Amid emotional scenes, supporters hoisted the retiring Marcus Gayle on to their shoulders. Gayle, 37, had completed a talismanic journey from Wimbledon forward to AFC Wimbledon centre back. “I need to rest my legs,” he said. “I’ve been in the game for 21 years. It was a great way to finish.”

Referee: M McLaughlin
Attendance: 2,460 

FC United of Manchester, the club founded by supporters unhappy at the Glazer takeover of Manchester United, won the third promotion of their three-year life on Saturday by beating Skelmersdale Town 4-1 in the UniBond League first division north play-offs final. Sheffield FC, the world’s oldest club, narrowly missed out on promotion, losing to Nantwich Town on penalties after a 2-2 draw in the south play-offs final.

Fleetwood manager sizes up new opposition

Tony Greenwood, the Fleetwood Town manager has not rested upon the laurels of his club’s UniBond League triumph.

“I went to watch the Stalybridge Celtic v Southport play-offs match in the Blue Square North last night to get an idea of the kind of opposition we will be facing next season,” he said. “I have also spoken to Liam Watson at Burscough to see what he thinks is required for clubs coming up from the division and will do the same with Telford. They’ve both done well. I know already that I will have to bring in three or four players.”

Witton at wit's end over play-off failure

The lights were switched off in a subdued clubhouse at Wincham Park at midnight last night when the last shell-shocked Witton Albion official made his way home.

The numbness and disbelief were understandable. Two years in a row Witton had held the UniBond League title in their hands on the final day of the season; twice they had let the opportunity slip. Twice the Cheshire club then had the chance to make the Conference North through the play-offs; they have now twice blown that route, too.

Last night’s defeat in the play-offs semi-final by Buxton was a long, slow agony as Witton went down 6-5 in a penalty shoot-out after the match had finished at 1-1 and extra time failed to produce any further goals.

Buxton now travel to Gateshead on Saturday with the prize of a remarkable third successive promotion at stake. The venue for the match was confirmed only this morning because the International Stadium had already been booked for a wheelchair athletics event. The organisers have agreed to bring forward the schedule and clear up in time for the footballers to take over.

Fisher have Arif well and truly hooked

There was no escape for Joe Arif when it came to his commitment to Fisher Athletic. “I’m 26 years-old and I’ve been a supporter for 26 years,” he said before the club’s crucial Blue Square Premier match away to Newport County on Saturday. “My first game was when I was three weeks old. My uncle Dogan was the manager for 20 years. I was a mascot throughout the Vauxhall Conference years.

“Now I’m programme editor, website editor and press officer. I work in the City for a French stockbroker. It’s a high-pressure job that demands 55 to 60 hours a week. It takes about four hours to do the programme and sometimes I think: “Do I really need this?” But I love it and love the club.”

Dogan moved to Cyprus ten years ago to set up a business involving a hotel and a casino but the club is still in his blood, Joe said. His uncle’s house is called Fisher’s Retreat.

As a true fan, Arif said, he sat on the coach from Dulwich to South Wales with his stomach churning. “The players were so relaxed,” he said. “They and the manager were laughing and joking - I looked out of the window in silence for three hours.”

Beadle pays price as Newport fail again

WALTER GAMMIE at Newport Stadium

Two seasons in a row, Newport County have gone into the final day of the season needing a home victory to secure a place in the Conference South play-offs. Last year they lost 2-1 to Cambridge City and on Saturday they went down by the same scoreline to Fisher Athletic.

The South London team meet Hampton & Richmond Borough in the two-leg Blue Square South semi-final — and no one denied their entitlement to do so. Least of all Peter Beadle, the Newport manager.

“Probably the best side I’ve seen here all season in terms of the football they play,” he said.

Daish determined to enjoy his Wembley day out

Liam Daish was spotted taking photographs of Wembley Stadium when a tour arranged for the FA Trophy finalists took in the upper tier of the stadium.

Daish, the manager of the Ebbsfleet United side who play Torquay United on May 10, gazed down from high on the turf and said: “It’s something else, isn’t it?”

This from a man who played at the stadium before it was redeveloped. “Yes I have good memories,” he said. “I lifted the Auto Windscreens Shield trophy when I was captain of Birmingham City - but I think it’s only as you grow older that you come here and start really to appreciate it. It’s not quite the same when you are a player - I’ll appreciate the day more than anyone.”

Smug Rowe getting used to Wembley way

Alex Rowe, the Torquay United chairman, has much to be pleased about his first season at the Devon club. There is the FA Trophy final against Ebbsfleet United at Wembley on May 10 to look forward to - and that may be followed by a second visit eight days later in the Blue Square Premier play-offs final.
 
Whatever the last acts of the playing season hold in store, Rowe knows that the club has regained stability and self-respect after the disastrous season in which they were relegated from Coca-Cola League Two, damaged by the brief and chaotic reign under a consortium led by Chris Roberts.

King's Lynn fear misses could be costly

The entertaining 1-1 draw fought out between Gloucester City and King’s Lynn means that the destination of the Southern League premier division title will not be known until the final day of the season.

King’s Lynn go into the last match level on points with Team Bath and if they fail to secure the crown away to Merthyr Tydfil next weekend, they will spend the summer ruing the chances spurned on Saturday. From the moment that Michael Frew crashed a free kick against the bar after three minutes, they were in the ascendency. Joe Francis had an effort cleared off the line soon after and had the best chance of the first half from the penalty spot, but his effort was smartly saved by Kevin Sawyer.

Gloucester rallied in the second half and Alex Sykes put them ahead with a close-range effort, but with ten minutes remaining, Matt Nolan hauled King’s Lynn back into the game.

The dropped points ended Gloucester’s dreams of a place in the play-offs, but such setbacks are inconsequential compared with recent woes. Since the devastating floods of last July, they have been playing their home games in Nailsworth, at the home of Forest Green Rovers. But they recently secured a signed agreement to share Cirencester Town’s Corinium Stadium, while continuing to work hard to bring about a move back to within the city boundary.

“Our efforts now will bear fruit one day and all those hardy souls at present involved will know that future generations will have a top-class club that the city and its football lovers will be very proud of,” Dave Phillips, the chairman, said.

“Negotiations continue and we are satisfied with the way they are progressing at the moment.”

MARK VENABLES

Basham boosts Exeter promotion bid

A low drive from Steve Basham that crept into the corner of the Stevenage Borough net gave Exeter City a priceless 1-0 victory on Saturday in a crucial Blue Square Premier match.

With Aldershot Town within touching distance of the title, the race is on for a spot in the play-offs. Five clubs have a realistic chance of the four places on offer — Burton Albion, Torquay United, Cambridge United, Stevenage and Exeter — but, blighted by faltering form, all five seem reluctant to grasp the prize.

Exeter and Stevenage went in to Saturday’s evening kick-off in third and sixth places respectively, armed with the knowledge that Burton and Torquay had lost at home. But despite that boost, neither side accepted the challenge.

Kirkham realise their Wembley dream

Mick Fuller, the Kirkham & Wesham manager, looked ready for a lie down after his team had reached the FA Vase final at Needham Market on Saturday.

“I can sleep now, hopefully for the next six weeks - I’ve had enough of this over the past 14 days,” he said. He admitted he had been up at 6am pacing the car park at the team’s hotel pondering a tricky team selection that came down to leaving Dougie Shaw, his captain, on the bench.

Not that there was any chance of slumbering until the Wembley date with Lowestoft Town on May 11. Far from it. For a start, there was work: Fuller is a member of the in-service support team working on Typhoon, the new Euro fighter, at the BA systems plant in Warton.

Wembley date caps Kirkham's rise

Kirkham & Wesham from West Lancashire reached the FA Vase final at Wembley on May 11 when they added a 1-0 victory away to Needham Market in the second leg of the semi-final to the 3-2 home victory they gained the week before. Their opponents will be Lowestoft Town, who, like Needham, are a Suffolk team playing in the Ridgeons League. They hung on for a 4-3 aggregate victory away to Whitley Bay, despite conceding three goals inside the first 20 minutes.

Kirkham’s startling rise has been based on developing a new ground that enabled them to join the Vodkat North West Counties League second division this season, having a dedicated chairman, Dai Davis, with the contacts to bring in David Haythornthwaite, a wealthy businessman, as president, and so allowing Mick Fuller, the manager since 1994, the scope to build a talented squad.

Fuller sent out his team to defend — and they did so magnificently on a wind-ravaged afternoon — before introducing tricky and pacy substitutes: Ritchie Allen at half-time and Matt Walwyn with 15 minutes left. In injury time, Allen unselfishly set up Walwyn, the 17-year-old son of the late Keith Walwyn, the former York City and Blackpool striker, to score. When play resumed, Glenn Snell, of Needham, showed his frustration with a late lunge at Tony Keefe and was sent off.

Needham’s consolation was a record crowd of 1,275 for a competitive match at their ground, passed fit last week for possible promotion to step four. Danny Laws, their manager, sensibly gathered his squad away from the Kirkham celebrations to remind them that their season is far from over. They can still win the league and are in the league cup and Suffolk Premier Cup finals.

WALTER GAMMIE

Struggling Welling rejoice at toppling league leaders

Andy Ford stood with arms aloft in delight at the final whistle to celebrate Welling United’s 1-0 victory over Eastbourne Borough, the Blue Square South leaders, at Park View Road yesterday.

The victory may prove crucial to Welling’s hopes of survival and encouraged the former long-serving manager of Gravesend & Northfleet to believe that he might not have been crazy to take the job as he felt after his first match in charge last month, which Welling lost 6-2 at home to Cambridge City. “I thought ‘bloody hell – have I got the magic left in me?’,” he said.

Eastbourne battle Sussex rivals for place in the Conference

Just when either Eastbourne Borough or Lewes seem to have taken a decisive grip on the Blue Square South title race, the club in pole position have relaxed their grip and their rival has caught up and passed them again.

In the past fortnight, a draw and two defeats amid a spate of injuries left Lewes powerless to prevent Borough marching clear. Yet now Borough are showing vulnerability. They were beaten 2-1 at home by Bromley on Saturday and yesterday completed an unhappy Easter when they went down 1-0 away to Welling United. Lewes might have leapfrogged them again if their match at home to Fisher Athletic had not fallen victim to a downpour at the Dripping Pan because they won 3-0 away to Sutton United on Saturday. Borough’s lead stands at one point, but Lewes have a match in hand. It is a Sussex battle royal.

Spirited display belies Altrincham's lowly league position

Graham Heathcote, the Altrincham manager, could not hide his frustration that his side are involved in a relegation scrap after seeing them perform with character and style in their 2-1 defeat away to Aldershot Town, the Blue Square Premier leaders, at the Recreation Ground on Saturday.

Gary Waddock, the Aldershot manager, acknowledged the quality of Altrincham’s performance. “I watched them at Torquay and saw it then,” he said. “They made it very difficult: they’re a good side - they pass it. I know they’re down the wrong end of the table but if they carry on playing like they did today, they will pick up points.”

Such a glowing tribute is all well and good but Altrincham are in the relegation zone, helped at least by having Halifax Town, deducted ten points for entering administration last week, joining Weymouth and Farsley Celtic as teams for them to shoot at a point ahead of them.

Aldershot move closer to League return

Gary Waddock, collar of his black coat turned up, ginger hair artfully teased into spikes, stood beside his dugout, in field-marshal mode, and bellowed to his players: “Pass the ball, move the ball.” Aldershot Town have executed their manager’s instructions brilliantly this season and if they did not exercise their skills to maximum effect in taxing conditions on Saturday, they saw off Altrincham 2-1 to move 12 points clear in the Blue Square Premier.

Waddock remains resolutely in one-game-at-a-time mode, understandably as they are coming thick and fast, with matches away to Crawley Town today, Droylsden on Thursday and Stafford Rangers on Saturday. By then, even the manager might acknowledge that the club founded to win back the Football League place lost with the demise of Aldershot FC in March 1992, have their objective within their grasp.

Ambitious Fleetwood gearing up for biggest game of the season

Fleetwood Town are a club going places, having announced that they are going to build two new stands to bring the capacity of the Highbury Stadium up to 6,000. This is to complete work set in motion last season with the construction of the £250,000 Percy Ronson Stand.

The sense of excitement has been growing among the followers of the UniBond League premier division club. “The gates are up from last season,” Tony Greenwood, the manager, said. “The average is 550 to 600 at the moment. We’re getting as many people as teams in the Conference North. If you take out Telford and Kettering, the big clubs, we must have gates that match the fourth biggest  in the Conference North.

“With the work that’s going on to the ground, it’s all geared up for us to go up into the Conference North. It’s got to go hand in hand. The problem at Bamber Bridge when I won the league there [in 1995-96] and we should have gone up into the Conference was that the ground wasn’t ready.”

Injuries pitch Quinn into sticky situation

Jimmy Quinn, the Cambridge United manager, said that his team will press Aldershot Town all the way for the Blue Square Premier title after their 1-0 win over Woking on Saturday. Cambridge travel to play Crawley Town tomorrow, while Aldershot are engaged on Setanta Shield business and recovering from their failure to secure a place in the FA Trophy final, which will be contested between Ebbsfleet United and Torquay United.

“Aldershot aren’t over the line yet and we’ve got to keep believing that we can catch them,” Quinn said.

“We’ve got to win as many games as we can, cement our place in the play-offs and if Aldershot do slip up, we might yet do it.”

Long faces give way to more upbeat mood at Sphinx

“Stunned”, “really deflated”, “I feel as though we’ve been knocked for six” and “a bit numb” - those were the phrases threaded through the early part of a conversation with Neil Long, the vice-chairman, of Coventry Sphinx after his club’s FA Vase run had come to an end in the quarter-final replay at home to Kirkham & Wesham.

From the disappointment a far more upbeat tone swiftly emerged as Long reflected on a campaign that has transformed the fortunes of his club.

The most immediate benefit has been the acquisition of a sponsor for the remainder of this season and the whole of next season in the shape of Mortgage4Review. The club had feared for its future at the start of their first season in the Polymac Services Midland Alliance when a promised sponsor had disappeared without trace.

Vase run suits Kirkham & Wesham to a tee

Kirkham & Wesham stopped for lunch at the Marriott Hotel at the Forest of Arden golf course on their way to the FA Vase quarter-final replay away to Coventry Sphinx last Saturday.

Bob Davey, the secretary, said: “There were a couple of golfers who came in and took a table next to us. One of them said ‘Who are that lot?’ ‘I don’t know - some team called Kirkham & Wesham,’ his friend replied. ‘I’ve never heard of them.’

“I couldn’t resist leaning over the table and saying ‘You soon will have.’”

Ebbsfleet 90 minutes from Wembley

The Ebbsfleet United adventure has yet to take its final shape under the ownership of the MyFootballClub website. The online voting to make decisions on the selection of Liam Daish’s teams has yet to come on stream.

The old guard was still prominent at Stonebridge Road on Saturday for the the FA Trophy semi-final that gave further evidence for the club’s potential as Daish’s young team romped to a 3-1 first leg victory over Aldershot Town, the Blue Square Premier League leaders.

Brian Kilcullen, the former chairman, is acting chairman until a meeting of the MyFootballClub trust draws up a structure to run the club and nominates a chief executive to be the focal point of its day-to-day running and commercial activity.

Ebbsfleet close in on Wembley dream

Ebbsfleet United and their MyFootballClub owners have Wembley in their sights after beating Aldershot Town 3-1 in the first leg of the FA Trophy semi-final on Saturday. They must first weather the backlash from an Aldershot display that was far removed from those that have sent them clear at the top of the Blue Square Premier. “They’ll come at us with all guns blazing, but we’ll be ready,” Liam Daish, the manager, said.

Ebbsfleet coped with an Aldershot revival in the second half when Gary Waddock, the manager, made a triple substitution after his team trailed 2-0 at half-time. “I said to the players that if I had ten players, I would have changed the lot of them,” he said.

Deacey looks to maintain momentum at Farsley

John Deacey is an old management hand compared with Steve Bull. He took over at Farsley Celtic in November when Lee Sinnott left to go to Port Vale, initially as caretaker until being appointed full time at the Yorkshire club on December 14.

While Bull, in his first match in full charge of Stafford Rangers against Farsley on Saturday, cut an animated figure, Deacey remained largely impassive, arms folded across his chest, surveying the action intently from the edge of the technical area.

Deacey, 48, a former midfield player with Chesterfield, has been with the club during their dramatic rise to the Blue Square Premier — achieved by three promotions in four seasons — and is determined not to let the club’s hard-earned status slip.

Wolves legend Bull now the head Ranger

Jon Downing could not hide the flat feeling of a football club chairman who has seen three points going begging, but the man whose appointment of Steve Bull as manager has whipped Marston Road into a frenzy of expectation still had much to smile about on Saturday evening after Stafford Rangers had gone down 2-0 to Farsley Celtic.

He waved his arm at the doors behind him. “All the hospitality rooms are full, Steve’s friends helped generate a great atmosphere and there has been a terrific crowd today,” Downing said. “I’m worn out. There were phone calls, letters, texts - everything to arrange. There are seven directors here and everybody is behind the change and working hard.

Bull sees red after Stafford anticlimax

Steve Bull’s first home match in charge of Stafford Rangers on Saturday was marked by the presence of a black-and-white bull, Stan Collymore, Robert Plant, Frank Munro and a crowd of 1,853, the club’s biggest for more than three years.

The bull behaved impeccably; the friends collected by Bull during his Wolverhampton Wanderers and England days did him proud. Collymore, a Stafford legend, kicked footballs with youngsters, Plant posed for photographs and signed autographs, Munro, a Wolves defender in the 1970s, was a poignant sight in a wheelchair.

Parslow keeps York on road to Wembley

York City missed out on a trip to Wembley last season when they lost to Morecambe in the Conference play-offs semi-finals. They can make good that omission in the FA Trophy this season after they beat Rushden & Diamonds 1-0 in the quarter-finals on Saturday. In doing so, York bounced back from a 3-1 defeat away to Histon in the Blue Square Premier that ended an unbeaten 17-match run that has seen them sprint clear of the relegation trouble that cost Billy McEwan his job as manager in November.

York have scored in every match in their revival under Colin Walker but nobody expected Danny Parslow to be the player to keep that run going. Parslow, 22, from Caerphilly, who captained Wales in their 2-1 defeat by England C in the international last week, is a defender who was on Cardiff City’s books from the age of 12. He did not make the first team and joined York last season. When Parslow flung himself in front of his marker to meet a corner by Nicky Wroe in the fifteenth minute, it was his first goal in senior football.

Merely putting a header on target would have enabled Michael Rankine to finish a brilliant move by Andy Burgess and Charles Ademeno, Rushden’s new loan signing from Southend United. The striker also shot tamely at Tom Evans, the York goalkeeper, when Darren Craddock slipped. “It was a thin dividing line,” Garry Hill, his manager, said. “We could have been 3-1 up at half-time.”

In the second half, Michael Corcoran headed on to the top of the bar and David Brown flashed an overhead kick narrowly over, but York should have finished off Rushden on the break. “It was a massive team effort, but we could have been less selfish there,” Walker said.

WALTER GAMMIE

Hungerford Town facing mighty challenge

Hungerford Town have no illusions about the task awaiting them when they take on Whitley Bay in the FA Vase quarter-finals at Bulpit Lane next Saturday.

“They’ve got to be a good side to go down to Truro and win down there,” Alan Clark, the Hungerford manager, said. “Everyone knows that Truro have a horrendous amount of money and a great record in their league. Whitley Bay have a good cup pedigree. They’ve won the Vase before. I don’t want us to be embarrassed. We don’t deserve that because we go out and try to play decent football.”

Grant puts Aldershot in driving seat

Two goals from John Grant, his fifteenth and sixteenth league goals this season, were enough to earn Aldershot Town a 3-1 victory over Stevenage Borough, their promotion rivals, in the Blue Square Premier last night. The victory put Aldershot six points clear of Torquay United, their nearest rivals, at the top of the table, although the Devon side have two games in hand.

However, a fifth match without a victory left Stevenage struggling to maintain their play-offs challenge, although Peter Taylor, their manager, did not see it that way. “I don’t agree that the play-offs are slipping through our fingers,” he said. “The spirit in our dressing-room is good enough and we have good enough players. The difference was that they took their chances in the first half while we did not.”

Stafford poised to put Bull in charge

Stafford Rangers are confident that they will be able to unveil Steve Bull as their new manager this week. Jon Downing, the chairman, said: “There is a deal on the table and we hope it goes ahead. Negotiations are in the eleventh hour, but we can’t yet say for sure that Steve will be our manager. We hope to hold a press conference this week.”

Downing said that the inspiration for approaching Bull came simultaneously to himself and two other directors when they watched the 42-year-old former Wolverhampton Wanderers and England striker give a television interview in which he revealed his ambition to become a manager and his readiness to start at the lower reaches of the game.

Kirkham & Wesham taking the Vase by storm

Kirkham & Wesham have twice been awarded the prize of team of the round in this year’s FA Vase. As a step-six side, who are in their first season in the Vodkat North West Counties League second division and playing in the competition for the first time, it is fair to say that they have taken the Vase by storm.

Four men have been at the heart of the club’s rise. Bob Davey, was responsible for the merger between two West Lancashire League clubs. Dai Davis injected business expertise and energy. Mick Fuller, the long-serving manager, supplied the contact that enabled the club to find their ground. David Haythornthwaite has added financial clout and taken their ambitions to a new level.

Davey, who followed 16 years in the Royal Navy by joining British Aerospace in Warton and becoming the company’s chief non-destructive test engineer, was chairman of Wesham, which is a village on the outskirts of Kirkham.

Sphinx are the surreal thing

“Surreal” was the word that cropped up in conversation with Neil Long, the vice-chairman of Coventry Sphinx, after the Midland Alliance club marched into the quarter-finals of the the FA Vase on Saturday.

Long has penned a piece for the Coventry City programme that will be sold at their FA Cup fifth-round tie against West Bromwich Albion tomorrow in which he describes scenes of grown men crying after Sphinx completed a 3-1 victory away to Stanway Rovers from the Eastern Counties League.

But what truly made the hairs stand up on Long’s neck happened some hours after the match had finished back on home territory at the Sphinx Club.

Tarry and Hungerford face tricky replay

Ron Tarry, 81, chalks up 60 years’ service for Hungerford Town next month. His only regrets are three semi-final defeats in the FA Vase, in 1978, 1980 and 1989. The club president’s dreams of reaching Wembley remain alive, but the Hellenic League team must win a replay away to Greenwich Borough after a 2-2 draw in a fifth-round tie on Saturday.

Greenwich equalised deep into time added on for stoppages when Peter Smith headed in a perfect cross by Chris Hubbard. The teams remained at deadlock in extra time and Alan Clark, the Hungerford manager, was left to bemoan his defenders’ failure to close out the match after Graham Edney had struck with a swerving shot in the 79th minute.

Charlie Austin had headed Hungerford in front in the sixteenth minute and they had the better chances, but Ian Concannon wasted a header and turned a shot on to the bar. Concannon, a Vase winner with Didcot Town in 2005, was signed in September and has scored 31 goals, but he is enduring a rare barren spell.

Greenwich started the second half brightly. Smith struck a superb free kick to make it 1-1 after 50 minutes and Badar Mohammed smashed the ball against the underside of the bar. Throughout, they showed flashes of exuberant brilliance. Their best Vase run has brightened life at the Kent League club because they struggle financially and attract little support.

Hungerford’s success has brought a fixture pile-up that worries Clark. Promotion is important because Andrew Fitton, the chairman, has suggested to the manager that he may continue to support the club if they go up, even though he is part of a consortium that has taken over Swindon Town, the Coca-Cola League Two club.

WALTER GAMMIE

Torquay strikers show ruthless streak

AFC Wimbledon showed that they are a club brimming with vitality, but amid the clamour generated by a crowd of 4,085, Torquay United, their opponents in a third-round FA Trophy tie on Saturday, quietly slipped away with a 2-0 victory.

Terry Brown, the Wimbledon manager, acknowledged that Torquay, the Blue Square Premier team, were superior all-round. “The crowd were desperate for something to latch on to and really cheer and because we never looked like scoring, I think we fell a bit short of giving them what they came for,” he said.

Salford made to pay for missed chances

Salford City arrived for their FA Vase tie at Coventry Sphinx last Saturday with hopes running high, but they spurned a hatful of chances, went down to a 3-1 defeat and returned north to focus on their bid to win the Vodkat North West Counties League with a strong sense of a lost opportunity. That was strengthened by the knowledge that if Salford come out on top of a tussle with Newcastle Town and Trafford for the title, they will be promoted to the UniBond League and leave behind the Vase.

As a club Salford are overshadowed by Manchester United, for whom the city is a hotbed of support. Yet both club officials that I spoke to before the match were City fans. Steve Haslam, the assistant youth team manager, summed up the club’s problem in making its presence felt with an anecdote relating to the three coaches the club ran down to the Midlands.

Getting to know Mr Sphinx

After twice talking to Neil Long about Coventry Sphinx in the past weeks, it was a pleasure to see the club for myself and meet the man in person last Saturday.

I was kindly corrected as to his role at the club. In culling his telephone number from the FA Competitions Directory, I had assumed that he was the club secretary. He is, in fact, vice-chairman.

Leaders Aldershot get back on track

Aldershot Town, the Blue Square Premier leaders, ensured that a blip did not balloon into anything more serious when they beat Oxford United 1-0 at the Recreation Ground last night after losing their two previous matches, at home to Forest Green Rovers and away to York City.

Gary Waddock, the manager, cut a more animated figure on the touchline than regular watchers are accustomed to seeing and his team responded with a committed, unflagging performance against opponents being reshaped and reinvigorated by Darren Patterson and who matched Aldershot for intensity. The combination made for compelling viewing.

Shrivenham keep perspective after "bad day at the office"

Andy Fila, my correspondent from Shrivenham sent a one-word summary of the Hellenic League club’s FA Vase trip to Dunston Federation. “Outclassed,” he wrote.

There was little else he could say after Shrivenham had been crushed 8-0 by the Arngrove Northern League side. Except, in true supporter’s fashion, “roll on next season”.

Poole Town remain resilient in search for home

Chris Reeves, the vice-chairman of Poole Town, completed his eloquent summary of the club’s recent travails by saying that in his mind an important psychological balance has shifted. “No longer do I think of us as an ex-Southern League club,” he said. “Now I think of us as a future Southern League club.”

That has been the positive effect of arriving at Tatnam, a ground that Poole have been able to call home again after the wilderness years that followed the loss, in 1994, of the use of Poole Stadium in which they had established themselves as pillars of the Southern League.

Dedicated Greenwich band deserve Vase run

Why Greenwich Borough must be considered the smallest club left in the FA Vase was clear from watching them play a Kent League match against Sevenoaks Town at Harrow Meadow on Tuesday night. They were barely 25 spectators leaning against the railings to watch a match that Borough, for all their industry and energy, allowed to slip through their grasp. They conceded goals in either half to go down 2-0.

Ebbsfleet takeover nears completion

Liam Daish, the Ebbsfleet United manager, whose role as a manager who will be governed by the wishes of supporters voting on the internet has been the central  focus of the MyFootballClub takeover, welcomed the news that the deal is nearing completion after 95.9 per cent of the 18,112 votes cast by the website’s 27,278 members voted in its favour.

Shrivenham happy to travel far for big day out

Andy Fila, “supporter and local resident”, from the village of Shrivenham in Wiltshire contacted me this week to draw attention to his club’s FA Vase fourth-round tie tomorrow. “Most away clubs have the luxury of a short journey to face their opponents,” he wrote. “We on the other hand face a return trip of 562 miles when we travel to play Dunston Federation of the Northern League.”

Remarkably, the Hellenic League premier division club expects to take about 100 supporters for the journey to play the Gateshead-based side. Robb Forty, the chairman, said. “We’re one of the better supported clubs in our league and it’s a big day for the village; the social club plays an important role in the community. We’ve cancelled the reserve game as well, so the reserves can travel up with us and it’s going to be a jolly good club outing.”

Braintree looking at bigger and better things

When Braintree Town supporters hand over their £2 for a programme at the club’s Blue Square South match at home to Cambridge City at Cressing Road tomorrow, they will be able to study for the first time an artist’s impression of the new stadium, two miles from the town centre, that Lee Harding, the chairman, has promised the club will move to in the summer of 2012.

“It’s going to be a reasonably characterless new stadium as all the ones they seem to build are, but it will have the kind of tremendous facilites we need: seating for 4,000, covered terraces at either end and it should be ready should the Football League come to Braintree,” Harding said. “We’ll have a training pitch and all-weather surfaces as well as banqueting facilities and the club function facilities that clubs like ours need to run as businesses.”

Mammoth trip proves worthwhile for Braintree

There was no flinching at the task that lay ahead when Braintree Town, of the Blue Square South, faced up to travelling from Essex to Cumbria for their replay in the second round of the FA Trophy on Tuesday night.

Lee Patterson, the manager, said after the sides had drawn 1-1 at Cressing Road on Saturday: “The club and players want to get to Conference National. That would be a run-of-the-mill journey on a Tuesday night. The players all have leave booked. We’ll take the coach up and stop for a bit of lunch.”

Daish keeps Ebbsfleet focused on promotion

The most striking thing about spending an afternoon at Stonebridge Road was to observe how little the hysteria of the ongoing MyFootballClub takeover has impinged on the day-to-day life of Ebbsfleet United.

Until the deal is completed, the Blue Square Premier club are resolutely maintaining their focus on the challenge for a place in the play-offs.

Liam Daish, the manager, says that he will not know how his job will be affected by MyFootballClub becoming his bosses until due diligence is completed and the legal niceties are tied up.

Eastleigh winning battle for hearts and minds

Paul Doswell remains at the heart of Eastleigh Football Club even though he stepped down as manager during last season. “I spent five years as manager and that’s long enough,” he said. “It was important as we were moving up levels that we brought in somebody with the right type of experience.”

Eastleigh seemed to have that man in place when Jason Dodd, the former Southampton player, lifted them to safety after a poor start to their second season in the Conference South, but he answered a summons from the St Mary’s Stadium to return as coach before the start of the present season.

Histon determined to keep climbing football's ladder

The selling point for writing about Histon was the contention by Setanta that the Cambridgeshire club were the third most successful in England behind Manchester United and Chelsea on points scored in the past five years. How could you ignore that?

The man doing the selling was Allen Soraff, the financial director of the club in its first season in the Blue Square Premier. He himself had been sold on Histon after spending five hours in the company of Gareth Baldwin, their tirelessly enthusiastic chairman, at a dinner.

Warrilow guarding over Tonbridge

Oxford United’s 1-0 defeat by Tonbridge Angels in the FA Trophy first-round replay on Tuesday was the most extraordinary scoreline of the week. “Arguably the poorest result in half a century,” the Oxford Mail reckoned.

It was certainly sobering when you consider that Oxford were playing in the Coca-Cola League two seasons ago. Their problem is obvious. For the past five matches, they have failed to score a goal.

City need bread to avoid being meat in the sandwich

The feeling that Cambridge City are the meat in the sandwich between Cambridge United and Histon, their local rivals, can only have become stronger when the draw for the second round of the FA Trophy was made yesterday.

That description of City’s status was expressed by a contributor to the programme for the first-round tie against Kettering Town that City handsomely won 3-2 on Saturday. The draw pitted Histon against United, but left City preparing for a decidedly less glamorous and lucrative trip to Droylsden.

Histon beat Cambridge United 5-0 in a first-round Trophy tie last season that served notice that they were ready for the step up from the Conference South to join their defeated rivals in the Conference, which they duly managed by securing the title by 19 points.

City finished second in Conference South in 2004-05 but failed to negotiate the play-offs that brought Altrincham promotion. Since then much of their time has been spent in the throes of the crisis that threatened their existence, from which they emerged only in September when a court judgment gave them the right to 50 per cent of the proceeds of the sale of their ground at Milton Road.

Their next critical point comes when the lease on the ground runs out in 2010; in between they can again devote at least some thought to their place in the football firmament.

Kevin Satchell, the chairman, has been able to follow Histon’s rise from close quarters, because he lives close to their ground in the village of Impington to the north of the city. “There’s a decent following for football in the area,” he said. “Cambridge is not exactly what you’d call a hotbed of football. There are three clubs all playing at a similar level and it has increased the interest. United are the senior club but despite going down, their gates have not been suffering too much.

“At the moment Histon are successful and have increased their support. That’s probably stopped our support from increasing. Things can happen. Who knows what the situation will be in five years’ time? You do have to say that overall, there is an increased level of awareness because of the rivalry.”

Gary Roberts, the City manager, said: “We’ve got some good young players coming through and next year we hope we can add some experience and quality and we can be a force to be reckoned with in the league.”

The key, Roberts admits, is to finding an injection of money to supplement the sum raised by the hard-working supporters’ trust that runs the club. “We need that to have a chance to compete — unless we find 200 or 300 more supporters from somewhere,” he said. “Otherwise we’re just going to be ticking along in the bottom half of the league.

“It’s a stop-start thing all the time. We produce a crop of players, they all get snapped up, another lot come through. Hopefully we can get out of that spiral, keep hold of our players and get better ones in.
“We’ve probably got the second lowest budget in the league. We’ve always punched above our weight, but you can only do that for so long.”

The manager says that having two neighbouring rivals is double-edged. “It makes life more difficult,” he said. “United are the established club. Histon have done a fantastic thing to attract money into their club and push on.

“Our attitude must be to try to push ourselves up there because there would be a mini cash cow available from being part of that rivalry. And when you consider that the money that is paid out to Blue Square clubs would cover our budget, I can’t see a loser in it anywhere.”

WALTER GAMMIE

Lowestoft learn their lessons well

A chill air that mixed desperation and determination hung over Crown Meadow when Lowestoft Town played in the fourth round of the FA Vase in January. Such was the plight of the Trawlermen that the match, against Ipswich Wanderers, was billed as possibly being their last. The outlook when Lowestoft line up for a fourth-round tie in this season’s competition next month will be considerably brighter.

The Ridgeons League club had faced closure in the face of a demand for £11,000 by Revenue and Customs by the end of January. They have now sorted out their financial problems, acquired a new chairman and recruited a marketing manager who used to work for Norwich City. The lessons learnt from the dark days at the start of the year have been taken to heart.

Truro's full-time switch brings hunt for new manager

Dave Leonard has delivered everything that Truro City have asked of him, so the news that the manager has declared himself unable to join the switch to full-time football planned by Kevin Heaney, the owner, has been greeted with a heartfelt sense of impending loss.

Leonard swept the club to a treble of FA Vase, Toolstation League first division and Cornwall Senior Cup last season. On Saturday Truro moved into the last 32 of the Vase with a 3-0 victory away to Melksham Town; they top the Toolstation League premier division, having won 14 and drawn three of their matches this season; and they have opened their defence of the Cornwall Senior Cup by thumping Probus 7-0.

Sphinx grateful to Coventry City

The satisfaction taken by Coventry Sphinx as they extended their best run in the FA Vase to the fourth round by beating Oldbury United 4-0 on Saturday was made all the sweeter by the pains taken by the club to ensure that the third-round tie was played.

Neil Long, the secretary, said: “I received a phonecall at 10 o’clock on Friday morning from the groundsman to say that the dugouts had blown away. It was obviously a freak wind because they were on concrete blocks with a heavy metal roof that needed eight to ten men to carry. They had flipped over.

“Fortunately, Coventry City came to the rescue. They had a spare set of Perspex dugouts at their Academy, which is very close to us, and allowed us to borrow them for as long as we need.”

Ambition drives Midland Combination stalwarts

Coventy Sphinx. Now that’s a name to conjure with — and battered by the inadequacies of the bloated failures at the top of the game, the kind of football club to lift spirits.

The name derives from the motif on the bonnet of Armstrong Siddeley cars that were part of the industry that dominated the city. The only remaining connection with the club’s origins as a works team, founded in 1946 as Armstrong Whitworth Aircraft FC, lies in using a ground owned by Rolls-Royce.

Rye smile at FA Vase antics

There was euphoria for the players and officials of Rye United on the drive back to East Sussex after the club had secured a 3-2 victory in their FA Vase second round replay away to Cobham on Tuesday night.

It secured the Sussex County League club a place in the last 64 of the competition for the first time and earned them an away trip to Lowestoft Town, the Ridgeons League club, in the third round on December 8.

Team Bath enjoy student play

The student presence was clearly visible at Team Bath’s FA Cup tie against Chasetown at Twerton Park on Saturday: yellow-and-blue face paint on fresh faces, a bucket collection for a cause in Africa at half-time, some horseplay in front of the stand with a display board for a snack bar. Free bus rides along the down from the campus to Twerton Park helped to swell the numbers and put up some opposition to the massed ranks who had made the trip from Staffordshire to support Chasetown.

From small beer to Conference hopefuls

On my previous visit to the Dripping Pan three years ago, I encountered a man with a sketch pad capturing the skyline of Lewes from a vantage point on the walkway behind one goal.

The attraction was clear: the historic town centre with the castle at its heart made an appealing contrast to the modern roof over the new concrete terrace built next to the clubhouse.

That was the first part of the process of turning what the man from the local radio station said he had thought of as the Glyndebourne of football - “people sitting on grass banks, drinking Harveys” - into a stadium that would enable the club to take its place in Conference football.

Sutton United refuse to panic despite lowly league position

Think Sutton United, and there forms an imperishable image of the FA Cup victory over Coventry City in 1989 coupled with snippets of higher wisdom from Barrie Williams, their pipe-smoking manager.

The Surrey club also has a reputation for enviable stability, with Williams holding the job for ten years and John Rains, one of the club’s playing heroes, subsequently doing a decade of service.

Rains built a succession of young sides and took the club into the Conference in 1999-2000. Sutton were relegated after stoutly maintaining that they were not prepared to throw money pursuing a dream at the expense of the viability of the club.

Lewes prove cup exploits are no flash in the pan

Lewes became the last of the 80 clubs to take their place in the first round of the FA Cup tomorrow week when they beat Grays Athletic 2-0 in a fourth qualifying round replay at the Dripping Pan on Wednesday night.

How times have changed for the East Sussex club. When they reached the first round for the first time in 2001, they were hailed as one of the most unlikely of the small-fry beneficiaries of the Cup. Now no one bats an eyelid at their success.

The power of positive thinking

One of the surprises from an enjoyable afternoon watching Harrogate Railway upset Harrogate Town in the FA Cup on Saturday was to discover that the winning club’s chairman spoke with the unreconstituted vowels of a man from East London.

Barrow set up FA Cup tie with Bournemouth

Barrow were the big winners in last night’s FA Cup fourth-qualifying round replays. They may be hovering perilously close to the relegation positions in Blue Square North but they dispatched Farsley Celtic, of Blue Square Premier, 2-1 at Holker Street to line up a home first-round tie against Bournemouth.

A deflected free kick by Andy Bond beat Tom Morgan in the Farsley goal in the first half and Steve McNulty, the central defender, headed home another free kick in the second half before Farsley replied ten minutes from time when Damian Reeves putaway a cross by Tris Whitman.

For Phil Wilson, the Barrow manager, recently given a vote of confidence by the club’s board, the victory was particularly important.

The one good bit of news for Farsley was that Lee Sinnott, their manager, was staying put. Andy Firbank, the club chairman, issued a statement to say: “The board of directors gave Port Vale Football Club permission to speak with Lee Sinnot