FA VASE - 1ST ROUND
SATURDAY 3RD OCTOBER 2009
WELLS CITY 3 VERWOOD TOWN 0

The population on Queen Street doubled as the squad went hunting for a breakfast. 'Daniel's' housed 9 of us and 'The Three Little Pigs' housed the other 8. Finally sorted we headed back for the ground and made ready for the game.

We played well against Romsey on Wednesday night and all that was wanted was a similar performance.

There was no preamble. Wells moved the ball quickly and the first shot on goal came after only 4 minutes with Fawcett being the goalkeeper tested. Fawcett's throw gave Dyer a run and a shot from the edge of the area went wide.

We quickly faded. The Jekyll and Hyde syndrome took over and our performance echoed that of AFC Portchester match.

Lynch, Jamison, Elysee and Murray backed by Fawcett faced 17 attacking players. We interchanged extremely well with the Wells forwards giving them plenty of opportunities to have a crack at our defence. We wilted after 12 min and a scramble in the area resulted in the ball being slammed past Fawcett. 0-1.

The trainers were unemployed as we allowed Wells freedom to move through our mid field refraining from exerting ourselves in making tackles.

30 minutes and Wells allowed us to make a quick attack. Stopping the raid on the edge of the area Wells defence wellied the ball back into our box and an open goal was missed from 8 yards.

When we did have the ball (rarely) we tried to play football on the deck and it matched the Wells style of play.

42 minutes a 30 yard free kick whistled into the top corner. It was a cracking effort and worth the increased goal line.

45 minutes and a high ball dropped between our defence and Wells forwards. We let it bounce so that a Wells player could place it past Fawcett to close the half at 0-3.

The dressing room chat at half time was tinged with vitriol. Would it make any difference?. Not a bit.

We drifted into the game and only token efforts were made to give Wells a game. It must have been the easiest game this season for them.

Dean Evans didn't stop running. With purpose it would have been energy well spent but all we could do was to roll on oxygen canisters every now and then to keep Dean going.

It was a very friendly atmosphere with Wells enjoying a stroll. Heavy rain hit hard half way through the half giving a skiddy top to the pitch. At least we got our kit dirty.

We tried a few 40 yarders so that the keeper could keep warm and occasionally dropped a ball down the line for the full backs to stretch their legs.

Wells constantly moved into our half but we had a resolute back four and a keeper that wanted to do well. We kept the ball away from the area as best we could but found ourselves giving space on the flanks.

Wells missed several chances but it did nothing to perk us up and we continued to drift.

We got a bit of grit and determination into our system with five minutes to go and almost did the unforgivable....score.

The whistle blew with the score still at 0-3 so at least we kept a clean sheet in the second half.

Next week we meet Tadley at Potterne. It's to be hoped we get ourselves together and play with some pride and passion.

Final score in the Vase and the route to exit...0-3.