Scorers :  Liam Robinson 45+2

Date : Saturday 2 December 2017 3:00pm - Buildbase FA Vase 3rd Round

Venue : Universal Stadium

Sholing : Ryan Gosney, TJ Cuthbertson, Jack Smith, Pete Castle, Dan Miller, Alex Sawyer (Kevin Brewster), Barry Mason (Marlon Mason), Jamie Bulpitt, Dan Mason, Byron Mason [c], Marv McLean.  Sub not used : Owen Royl, Owen Roundell, Rory Wood

Yellow Card :  Pete Castle, Jamie Bulpitt

Blackfield & Langley : Brad Snelling, Lewis Tallack, Ryan Oakley, Joe Byrne, Sam Poole [c], Connor Doe, Liam Robinson, Jordan Ngalo, Nimes Lopes De Pina, Franklyn Clarke, Sam Griffin.  Subs : Joe Butcher, Lerone Plummer, Connor Hoare, Rico Wilson, Adam Costello

Yellow Card :  Sam Poole

Attendance : 169

Man of the Match : Dan Miller (selected by ex-Saints player, Reuben Agboola)

Referee : Chris Wicks  Assistants : Sam Bowen & George Lowe

Sholing crashed out of the FA Vase as one moment of magic settled a tight, disappointing game.  Liam Robinson's spectacular 25 yard strike in first half added time sent the Watersiders through.

Team News: Lee Wort missed out through injury, so Dave Diaper put Byron Mason in an advanced position, supporting Dan up front, with Barry & Marv on either wing. Jack Smith came in at left back and Alex Sawyer & Jamie Bulpitt in central midfield.

It was a cagey opening as the two well-matched sides gave little away in the opening period, although Marv was having some success getting beyond the right back, but the final ball couldn't pick out a player in Red & White.  Pete Castle went into the book early for a tackle from behind on Lopes De Pina, who never really recovered from it and had to be substituted later.

Both teams exchanged clearances off the line, although each were comfortable clearances, firstly TJ heading clear from a corner and then Byron Mason's downward header had all the pace taken off by a deflection, meaning the Blackfield player on the far post was able to easily kick it clear.

Sholing were trying to get the ball into Dan Mason's feet, but he was being tightly marked, with the visitors more than aware not to let him turn, in and around the box.  The game looked set to be deadlocked at half time, when out of nothing in the second minute of added time, Blackfield scored.  A ball from the right saw Gosney go up to punch it clear off the head of TJ, it fell to Barry who couldn't clear and Liam Robinson was on hand to hit an arrow of a shot from 25 yards that went inside the post, past the motionless Gosney.  HT 0-1

With something to defend, the Blackfield defence continued to break up Sholing's attacks at the start of the second half without much drama as the game didn't live up to expectations. Boatmen had a lot of possession, but things broke down as soon as we got to the edge of the visitors penalty area.

Sholing's best spell of pressure was for a couple of minutes around the 75' mark.  Firstly, Jamie Bulpitt found a rare bit of space to get away a shot that just faded away from the far post and narrowly wide.  Then, Marv, who had switched wings with Barry, ran at the defence and his cross picked out an arriving Barry Mason on the edge of the box, who hit it first time and it looked to be sneaking inside the post, but instead just curled enough to hit the upright and rebound out into the 6 yard box where no Sholing player was.

Despite being better than most teams at putting the opposition under late pressure, Sholing were unable to breach a strong Blackfield defence, who were happy to sit in, use up time and hit on the break.  They almost grabbed a second, but Gosney saved well one-on-one.  Despite a lot of stoppages in play and time wasted by the visitors, the Ref added on just 3 minutes past the 90 and most of that was spent down by the Sholing corner flag as Blackfield go into the hat for the 4th round.  It wasn't pretty, but as Sholing know too well, in the FA Vase, you do what you have to do to win and that's all that matters.  FT 0-1

Dave Diaper said afterwards : "Gutted to lose today, but good luck to Glen and Blackfield in the next round let’s hope you get a home draw and the same goes for Hamble Club. Unlucky to my lads today. In our Vase run of 2014, Barry Mason's shot would have hit the post and gone in, not out. If Sam Poole (who was already on a yellow) had seen red for a bad foul on Sawyer at the start of the second half, it probably would have been a different outcome, but that's football"

Dan Miller said : “The boys heads are really down after that, it’s such a prestigious tournament, the biggest we have at this level, and you always want to get as far as possible - having won it a few years back we all wanted to do so again so we’re gutted and it’s a tough one to take, but we have to pick ourselves up and go again on Tuesday. “It was a very frustrating and disappointing one for us, credit to them as they did what they had to and we struggled to break them down - it was one of those games where nothing went for us."

Next Game : Sholing v Petersfield Town - Tuesday 5th Dec 7:45pm - Wessex League Cup

Photos by Ray Routledge :

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