F A VASE 2ND QUALIFYING ROUND – 25TH SEPTEMBER 2004
Arlesey Atheletic from Hitchin, playing in the South Midlands League Div. 1 were the visitors in this qualifying round of the FA Vase. Before kick off a heavy shower had dampened the pitch but not the enthusiasm of the crowd who saw Wanderers start kicking towards the club house end. It wass not long before Paul Westren and Rene Swann were causing problems for the Arlesey defence but play settled down with Wanderers looking in control and they took the lead on 13 minutes when a corner by Jorrell Hurd found Paul Westren in the area with enough room to shoot past McMillan in the Arlesey goal.
Arlesey mounted a number of raids on the Wanderers goal and on 22 minutes came close to levelling the score when Jamie Stannard had trouble with a corner and mis-timed his punch. The ball fell to an Arlesey forward but his shot was cleared off the line by Mark Goldfinch.
The pace of the game slowed as Wanderers showed their experience against their younger opponents but neither side looked dangerous in attack. An injured Jorrell Hurd was replaced by Kevin Morrison 5 minutes before half time and this change brought a new urgency to the front line. Kevin Morrison, raiding down the right wing, sent over an early cross which was flicked on by Marc Lowe for Ricky Martin to head Wanderers into a 2 goal lead. Almost immediately from the restart, Paul Westren found Ricky Martin in space and his pass was picked up by Rene Swann on the 6 yard line and tapped past a floundering McMillan for the 3rd and decisive goal. It was hard to see Arlesey coming back from these 2 deadly strikes so close to the half time whistle.
IPSWICH WANDERERS 3 ARLESEY ATHLETIC 0
Manager Jason Dozzell decided to rest himself for the second half and Steve Gayfer took his position in the heart of the Wanderers defence. Kevin Morrison still wanted to prove his willingness to attack and it was from one of his crosses on 56 minutes that Ricky Martin scored with a close range tap in after Arlesey had failed to deal effectively with a series of threats on their goal.
Arlesey tried to build attacking moves from midfield but these were easily broken down by the Wanderers defence and, despite utilising all their substitutes, Arlesey were unable to make much impression in this half. Their youth and inexperience were beginning to show as Wanderers looked increasingly comfortable with their 4 goal advantage.
This was increased to 5 on 86 minutes when Ricky Martin returned the favour to Kevin Morrison with a low cross that the latter was able to steer past the hapless 'keeper.
As with the FA Cup, Wanderers passed their first test with flying colours and they now await the draw for the next round on 23rd October.
IPSWICH WANDERERS 5 ARLESEY ATHLETIC 0
