Thrilling Start To Vase - Westbury United vs. Folland Sports

White Horse overlooking Meadow Lane

We are well and truly in the middle of cup season as last weekend saw the start of The FA Vase. I had initially planned to watch Risborough Rangers but after seeing that it would be raining for most of the afternoon, I decided to head further west and catch Westbury United's home time with Folland Sports. This match pitted Western against Wessex League with both sides in Division One of their respective competitions. I'd visited Follands Park to see Folland play Hordean back when they were in The Premier Division. The stand out feature of Follands Park is the jet plane in one corner of the ground which a nod to their connections with the aerospace plant next door. They hadn't had the best starts to the season and sat second bottom without a league win this season. Westbury had faired better and sat in seventh position although their goal difference is heavily skewed by a nine nil loss to Hengrove Athletic.

Start of the 2016-17 FA Vase

The game has a frantic start - something that would continue throughout the afternoon. After the referee played a good advantage, the Folland midfielder is allowed to come forward with the ball and he plants a perfectly placed shot into the bottom corner from the edge of the area to give the visitors the lead. Westbury are almost immediately gifted an equaliser when the Folland keeper flaps at a free kick into the area but he is relived to see the ball cleared off the line. Folland then are played in on goal by a misplaced Westbury pass which is not punished as the shot is put wide of the target. It is then Westbury's turn to get in on goal and some great defending sees both attempts on goal blocked. Westbury think they have the equaliser as the rebound is put in the net after a shot is saved but the forward is denied by the linesman's flag. Folland have the last significant chance of the half when the Westbury keeper does well to just tip over a shot from the edge of the box.

Folland defend a first half attack

The second half continues to be end to end as Folland are almost played in via a great cross field pass but the forward just can't control it. Westbury's first attempt of the half is a shot on the turn from outside the box that the Folland keeper does well to tip over. Folland then have a fantastic effort to make it two nil as a cross from the left finds the forward all alone in front of the goal and the Westbury keeper makes a stunning point blank block to keep his side in touching distance. It is then the Folland keeper's turn make an incredible save as the winger is played in but he is left aghast as the goalie makes a fantastic save. Westbury get the equaliser as a corner is floated to the back post and the Westbury player heads it back across goal and into the opposite top corner. Westbury now go all out attack and the Folland keeper does well to punch clear a heavily deflected cross. It has been a thrilling cup tie so far and it is a shame it is settled by a very generous looking penalty. The Westbury winger gets beyond the full back and the referee judges that he has been brought down and the resulting penalty finds the bottom corner despite the keeper getting a hand to the ball. Folland come close to getting a late equaliser in the final moments but the Westbury keeper makes a good low save at his near post to take his side into the next round.   

The equaliser finds the net

Westbury is fairly easy to get to from London. If you are lucky you can catch one of the infrequent direct trains from Paddington. Failing that you take a train to Bath also from Paddington and change there for a train to Westbury. The journey takes either an hour and a half or just over two hours. Meadow Lane is then about a fifteen minute walk from the station. Westbury had a good variety of pubs. If you want to catch the early kick off (it was The Manchester Derby when I was there) then The Angel and The Ludow Arms are perfect venues to do this. However, if you fancy a more homely, ale serving pub then The Crown Inn is the place to go. The clubhouse at the ground had the usual selection of drinks as well as Sky Sports on a projector screen. As you can see in the first picture, you can see the white horse from the ground and the club was extremely welcoming - a brilliant day out.

View up the touchline to the terrace in the corner