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| The Sholing winger takes on the Wellington defence |
So Saturday just gone, I saw most of an entertaining Vase tie but this wasn't the original plan. Against my better judgement, I gambled on Fawley's Wessex League match with Verwood surviving the rain. The club were confident the game would go ahead so I took the bus from Southampton and was just about to leave the pub to head off for the ground when I found out the game was called off on arrival of the match referee. The first game I saw was still going ahead was Sholing (if I had realized AFC Totton had survived, that would have been a quicker, cheaper taxi) so we set off on a mad dash around the edge of Southampton. On to the actual match then, the only time I'd seen either side was back when Sholing were VT Sports (VT being a shipbuilding company I believe) and they were playing Godalming in The FA Trophy. Sholing were having a good season in The Wessex League while Wellington of The Western were towards the bottom of their table.
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| Normal kick off angle shot |
Mercifully the roads behaved and I arrived just the ten minutes after kick off and the score was still nil nil. The first action I see is a Sholing free kick from the edge of the box which is deflected wide of the target. Sholing get in on goal and it takes a great tackle from the Wellington defender to prevent the shot on goal. Wellington have a flurry towards the end of the half, the first half chance is a ball into the box which the keeper does well to punch away. Then just before half time they take the lead. Following a corner the Sholing keeper produces an amazing point blank save but he is powerless to stop the rebound being forced home.
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| The free kick that deflected wide |
Sholing begin to step on the gas in the second half. The Wellington keeper makes a great save from a header from a corner to keep his side in the lead. The home side are banging on the door without forcing the goalie into a save and it takes a possibly controversial goal to get them level. From behind the goal, it looked like the Sholing winger sent in a vicious cross which went straight in but the linesman raises his flag for offside. After a discussion between the aforementioned linesman and the referee, the goal is given. Both sides have guilt edged chances in the closing stages. Firstly when the Sholing keeper plays a poor pass when well out of his goal, the resulting Wellington effort goes well wide of the target. Then the Wellington defender thinks his keeper is a lot further away then he actually was and the ball goes past him and the dashing Sholing forward just can't get to the ball. Just as it looks like the tie is heading to extra time, Sholing get a late winner. The winger is chopped down just in from the corner flag and from the resulting free kick the ball is headed home from close range.
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| Sholing attack in the second half with the clubhouse in the background |
Clearly I didn't have time for a pre match pint in Sholing and I'll save the Fawley pubs for when I revisit in the summer. To get back to Southampton Station I took the number nine bus which takes around twenty minutes. The ground is a fifteen minute walk from Sholing Station and to get to London from here you'll need to change at Southampton after taking a train from Waterloo. The clubhouse at the ground did the job, selling a selection of cans.
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| Dugout side of the ground |
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