United through in FA Vase

Sat. 10th October. FA Vase Horndean 0 Westbury United 1

Westbury made the long trip down to Horndean to see if they could progress to the FA Vase First Round Proper for the third consecutive season. 

On arrival it was noted that Horndean had a nice set-up and the welcome was second to none, the club officials and management were some of the nicest people you could ever meet.

On to the match, Westbury won the toss and decided to go up the hill first half. Horndean had a lot of possession, keeping the ball well but not really creating many clear cut chances. 

Westbury had the first real chance of a goal with a header from in-form striker Sammy Jordan. a deep cross from Hutchings in the right back position was met by Jordan, but it was an easy save for the keeper. Westbury were a little bit sloppy in possession first half, they were getting pinned back and playing quite deep, trying to hit Horndean on the counter. 

Westbury’s second good chance fell to Biddiscombe on the right hand side, he cut inside and hit a powerful shot which the keeper parried away to safety. Straight away Horndean replied, forcing Bowden to make great save. The Horndean attacker cut inside and struck a fine shot towards the top corner, Bowden at full stretch managed to tip it onto the bar.  Sammy Jordan went close again, he brought the ball down on his chest inside the box and hit a sweet overhead kick just dipping just over the bar. Jordan was involved again just before the halftime break. Stradling burst down the left to cross for Jordan, but he put his header wide of the near post. At halftime the score was still level at 0-0.

With Westbury now playing down the slope, the second half started very even with Horndean managing the slope better than Westbury did at the start of the first half. The first 10 minutes of the half passed without any significant chances created, so Westbury looked to the bench and made a couple of changes. Will Thomson replaced Steve Hulbert and Josh Ferguson replaced Jordan Pinder. 

The injection of pace and energy into midfield didn’t take long to impact the game. Sammy Jordan won a tackle high up the pitch,  Ferguson was on hand to bring the ball down. He burst through on goal giving the keeper the eyes, sending him the wrong way and smashing the ball near post to score and then celebrate with his trade mark back flip. 

Minutes later, the best move of the game finished off by Ben Griffiths slotting Sammy Jordan through one-on-one with the keeper who somehow managed to miss hit the ball wide. With a late tackle on Ferguson the Horndean captain received a yellow card and five minutes later the same player was adjudged to be late in a tackle on Will Thomson and was sent off for a second yellow card. 

The last 15 minutes Horndean pressed for the goal, putting a lot of balls into the Westbury box, but Westbury defended well as a team and managed to see out the 1-0 win and progress into the first round proper.

Team: Bowden, Hutchings, J.Jordan, S.Gregory, Price, S.Hulbert, Griffiths, Pinder, S.Jordan, Stradling, Biddiscombe. Subs: Ferguson, Thomson, Robinson (used) R.Hulbert, J.Gregory, D.Jordan, Porter (unused). Star Man: Scott Gregory.