Tunbridge Wells (1) 2 Irvine 36,76
Hadleigh United (0) 0
Att. 1,180
Entrance: £4 Senior
Programme: £1.50
Mileage: 26/4,399
Match Report
There was a record attendance of 1,180 at Culverden Stadium, many of whom would have been visiting for the first time. A club insider (goes under the name of Minnie(!)) revealed that during the week, people were ringing the club to purchase tickets in advance on their credit cards, “just like they do at the theatre” he said. Culverden may lack a resemblance to the Theatre of Dreams, but the dream is still alive.Tunbridge Wells Football Club are in the Semi Finals of the FA Vase, pinch yourself and carry on pinching yourselves until 3.00 pm on Monday afternoon when the draw is made, at which point the task facing the club to make the Wembley final will be known. Favourites Spennymoor are through, Guernsey will entertain Walsall Wood in a replay whilst Shildon and Ascot will also try again next Saturday.
Hadleigh United, from the Eastern Counties League, arrived with a good run of form behind them, having won six of their last seven and promised to test the Wells just as hard as the present holders of the trophy, Dunston UTS had done a couple of rounds ago, but a dominant performance from the home side left them deserved winners.
The FA Vase is a wonderful competition that showcases grassroots football at its best, with its predecessor being the FA Amateur Cup; Tunbridge Wells are truly an amateur club with none of their players receiving any reimbursement in terms of salary. The competition also offers a fairly level playing field, unlike the FA Trophy where a full time club can be pitched against another training just a couple of times a week, the Vase clubs only differ in respect of modest amounts of money that might be paid by certain clubs and not others.
Through the modern methods of social networking and good old fashioned coverage from the local paper and the club itself, the message got out there and there were long queues formed just prior to kick off and long after the start people were still entering the ground complaining that a parking space had been difficult to find. A good contingent from Suffolk were at the ground in plenty of time, resplendent in some eye-catching scarves, and they are a group of fans used to seeing their team winning on the road with five of their previous six Vase ties being won on visiting grounds.
Tunbridge Wells responded to the crowd’s encouragement and from the outset attacked their opponent’s goal in front of the main body of the crowd. An early chance for Perry Spackman was scrambled to safety before the Hadleigh goalkeeper, Dan Heath palmed away a corner, only to watch helplessly as a Tom Davy overhead kick narrowly went wide of the junction of the post and bar.
On the flanks both Josh Stanford and Jon Pilbeam were causing havoc to the Suffolk side’s full backs. Stanford set up chances for Andy McMath and Lewis Mingle whilst Pilbeam set up McMath with a chance that he struck wide from 20 yards.
The goal that the Wells’ dominance deserved finally arrived on 36 minutes with a counter attack that ripped the Hadleigh defence apart. Pilbeam made a surging run from his own half, passes from Hooley Cornell and Andy McMath opened up a six yard opportunity for Andy Irvine who coolly shot past Heath to the acclaim of the massed ranks on the terrace behind the goal.
After the break, Tunbridge Wells continued to dominate and if the Wells can be criticised for anything on the day it would be that they should have put their visitors to the sword long before they managed a second goal to ease the nerves. Irvine put a couple of good chances over the bar as the introduction of Jack Harris, replacing Cornell, offered a significant extra threat.
Harris won a midfield tussle and sent Pilbeam on his way to once more stretch his legs and wing his way past the harassed full back, from the bye-line the winger cut the ball back to Irvine who managed to slide in front of his marker to finish from close range.
With a quarter-hour remaining, for the supporters it was clock-watching and nail-biting time, but Hadleigh were offering very little threat and the occasional foray was being comfortably repelled by Spackman and Scott Whibley. Pilbeam had a couple of chances that had he taken them could have taken the man of the match award away from Irvine.
The final whistle brought the inevitable, good-natured, pitch invasion of elated young supporters, who it has to be hoped have taken the club to their hearts and will be the fan base of the future.
Tunbridge Wells as a football club was one that was almost unknown to its town folk, but now the town has responded, if just ten per cent of those people this FA Vase run has generated came back on a regular basis then the average crowd would be boosted to around 250 and what a difference that would make.
For once, Tunbridge Wells took centre stage away from Gillingham, Ebbsfleet and Dartford at the top of BBC Kent’s sports show and Martin Larkin, in his interview with Matt Davison, spoke warmly of the support and amateur values that the club upholds.
The semi-finals beckon, and who knows, the club might have to consider the credit card system that an all ticket match may demand and Minnie might have to buy a ticket in advance - “just like they do at the theatre”.
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