FA Vase Fourth Round Preview
Thu 19th January 2012 | General | By Ian Templeman
This Saturday sees Runcorn Town and Norton United flying the flag for our League in the Fourth Round of the FA Vase.
For Norton United, reaching this stage of the competition is a first for the club, while Runcorn Town will be looking to go one step better than they did last season, when they were eliminated at the same stage by Dunston UTS of the Northern League.
Another Northern League club, Billingham Synthonia, stand in the way of Town and a place in the last 16, and although a trip to Teeside to play at the Glamal Engineering Stadium is a first for them, they are the latest in a long list of clubs from the NWCFL to play there in FA competitions.
Town's game is the first time since Ashton Athletic lost 2-1 over there in a Second Round Vase tie in season 2007-08 that a club from our league has travelled to the ground, but since the dawn of the millennium, the club known as the Synners have also played Colne, Congleton Town, St Helens Town, Squires Gate and Maine Road in Vase ties home and away.
Runcorn Town will take encouragement from the fact that Saturday's opponents have a more impressive record away from home than at home in the league, and 5 defeats out of 13 home games goes some way to explaining why they sit in 9th place in the Northern League Division One, 15 points behind leaders Whitley Bay.
But Synthonia have an impressive record in the FA Vase, with their most notable season being in 2006-07, when they reached the semi-final only to lose on penalties to AFC Totton. Their next most impressive run in the competition was last season when they reached the Fifth Round, and with home advantage they will be looking to match that again at Town's expense on Saturday.
However, one record that is unlikely to be broken on Saturday is the FA Vase record for the highest scoring match, which Synthonia achieved when they beat Washington Nissan 9-7 in 2002!
In carrying out some research on Saturday's opponents, Town Secretary Martin Fallon uncovered a fascinating historic link between both clubs.
An interesting aside to the game is that both teams were formed by workers of the old ICI. Runcorn Town were known as Mond Rangers until 2005, with the club formed in 1968 by employees of ICI's Mond Division which was based in Runcorn.
Billingham were formed in 1923 with their very first ground on ICI's original sporting complex, and they have had a strong ICI connection ever since. Their unique name Synthonia was a product that ICI produced at their Billingham plant.
The different ICI plants across the country also used to have their own football teams who played inter-works games against each other. Several of our committee have played at Billingham, with our current President Roy Roberts recalling a game in which he played in the late 1980's where Billingham ICI won 1-0.
We are under no illusions that Saturday's game at Billingham will be easy. Any team that reaches the last 32 of a national cup competition has to be a good side and they have a lot of experience in the FA Vase.
This season Consett knocked out Ramsbottom, one of the best sides in our league, in the Second Round, yet in the next round they lost 4-0 at Billingham which shows what we are up against. Since that win over Consett, they have lost just one of eight matches, and their recent home form is excellent.
They have an excellent playing surface which Middlesbrough Reserves use sometimes for matches. Many people I have spoken to since the draw, who have been up to Billingham, have commented that it is like playing on a snooker table, so hopefully that will encourage us to get the ball down and play football which is where we are at our most dangerous.
We have a full squad to choose from with no suspensions, which is what you want when games like this come around, and there is no reason we can't progress if we play as we can.
It is amazing that we have been drawn away yet again. Since we first entered the Vase last season, six of our seven ties in the competition have been away from home! We are however unbeaten on the road and all of the lads enjoy our road trips”. We have a full coach with supporters filling up the spare seats, whilst several are making the trip up to the North East in cars”.
Manager Simon Burton echoed Martin's view that their away days in the Vase have been a great experience for everyone at the club.
I think the away draw in a lot of ways is a boost for us. I'm actually quite pleased we have been drawn away from home, because I know the lads are all looking forward to it, although obviously the club officials would have preferred a home draw.
The lads love the coach journeys, and it's a great atmosphere on the coach. We can have a bit of a laugh on the way there, and hopefully if we win, as we have done in all our other away ties in the Vase, the lads can have a good journey home and have a couple of drinks. It's good for team spirit and I think that was one of the reasons why we did so well last year.
The togetherness we had as a team really stemmed from the Vase games and all the away trips we had last season, and it's been the same this season. Obviously going to Glossop in the last round wasn't such a long journey but we still all went together as a team, and had a good time on the way.
This time we have a longer coach journey and I'm sure there will be a lot of banter on the way, and if we can get the right result then that should set us up for the rest of the season.
We obviously have been concentrating on the league, but we always say that the cup ties are for the lads, and it's a big game for the club. The lads always seem to be up for Vase games, with the results we have had in the last two seasons, and fingers crossed we can go one step further than we did last season.
I do think the Northern League is probably the strongest league in the country at our level, you only have to look at how many teams they still have left in the Vase. I think that in itself tells you what the strength of their league is like, and explains why they have done well in the competition over the years.
We know it is another tough game, but it is against a team who are in mid-table, so we have to go there fancying our chances.
I've been doing a bit of research on Billingham on the internet, and one of our club officials knows someone who lives up that way, so they have sent through various bits of information on them. But I feel it's down to how we set up on the day and go about it, and if we are competitive we are capable of beating anyone at this level.
It's only 11 v 11, and if we can get ourselves up for it we've got a chance, and we shouldn't need any sort of encouragement to get up for the game because it's a big competition that everyone wants to do well in.
We are quietly confident we can go there and get a result”.
While Runcorn's opponents are a familiar name to many who have followed the NWCFL over the years, it's fair to say that Norton United's opponents Peterborough Northern Star are not so well known in North West non-league circles.
The club play in the Premier Division of the United Counties League, and have a long history, having originally been formed as a brickyard team based in the Eye area of Peterborough in the early 1900s.
They were initially named Northern Star, before adopting the name Eye United in the 1950s, which they kept until 2005, two years after they joined the United Counties League, when they reverted back to the name of Peterborough Northern Star. However, the club's nickname of The Eyes” keeps a link to past history.
Recent seasons have seen them make continued progress in establishing themselves in the Non-League Pyramid, being promoted to the Premier Division of the United Counties League in 2009-10, and last season finishing in a very creditable 6th place in their first season at Step 5.
This season they have maintained their position in the top six of the United Counties Premier Division, although their form in recent league games has been a little erratic, with just one win in their last six league games, including a 2-1 defeat at home to Daventry Town last Saturday.
Like Runcorn Town, Star will be no strangers to an away tie in the FA Vase, with their Third Round 2-0 win over Armthorpe Welfare at their Chestnut Avenue home being the only home tie they have played to reach this stage of the competition.
Prior to that game, they beat Boldmere St Michaels 2-0 in the Second Round, Ellistown 2-0 away in the First Round, and started their Vase campaign in the Second Qualifying Round with a 2-1 win at Rushden & Higham United.
It promises to be a tough test for Norton United, but Secretary Dennis Vickers says everyone at the club is delighted to be hosting a tie in the last 32 of the Vase for the very first time.
As the game approaches I am getting a little bit more excited and can't wait for the game to start. Our off field preparations are almost complete, and we just hope for a good crowd and good weather.
We are expecting FA Council members from Staffordshire and Northamptonshire to be at the game, and I am told to also expect several League Committee members and various other officials from elsewhere.
The support we have received - and I am sure Runcorn Town have too - from the clubs in our League has given us a real boost, and I am sure we will represent the League well. I am determined to enjoy the day.
I know that the players are ready for the game. Our manager will have done his homework and the team will be well prepared. My hope is that we play to our ability and whatever the outcome we have no regrets".
From a playing angle, Norton United manager Scott Dundas says their run in the competition has been a great boost for team spirit and morale.
The Vase run has been terrific for keeping the momentum going. We've played 30 games this season, and apart from being knocked out of the FA Cup, which obviously we were never going to win anyway, we are unbeaten in the league and still in all the cup competitions we've entered. We've gone 22 games undefeated since the FA Cup game back in September, so it's been a good run for us.
We didn't know much about Peterborough Northern Star when the draw was made, but we've had them watched recently, we felt there wasn't much point in doing that too early. They are doing well in their league, they are a division higher than us and near the top of their league, so we know it's going to be a tough game.
The big advantage for us is getting a home draw, we feel that is a big plus for us. We have played seven cup ties at home this season and won all seven, so hopefully that gives us a bit of a platform to go on and hopefully progress into the next round.
The lads are really up for it and really buzzing. I think of the squad, there's only myself and Richard Smith who have ever gone further than the Fourth Round of the competition, and some of the lads have never been past the First Round before. So they are all really looking forward to it, enjoying the journey and seeing the little bits of publicity locally that we are getting from the Sentinel newspaper when the games come around.
Although we have had Peterborough Northern Star watched, and will know a bit about them by the time we play them, that doesn't mean we will be looking to alter our game plan much. We'll just go for it and see what happens, and hopefully we will keep the flag flying for the North West Counties League in the competition”.
Good luck to both teams, and let's hope both are celebrating on Saturday night.
FA Vase Fourth Round Preview
Thu 19th January 2012 | General
By Ian Templeman
This Saturday sees Runcorn Town and Norton United flying the flag for our League in the Fourth Round of the FA Vase.
For Norton United, reaching this stage of the competition is a first for the club, while Runcorn Town will be looking to go one step better than they did last season, when they were eliminated at the same stage by Dunston UTS of the Northern League.
Another Northern League club, Billingham Synthonia, stand in the way of Town and a place in the last 16, and although a trip to Teeside to play at the Glamal Engineering Stadium is a first for them, they are the latest in a long list of clubs from the NWCFL to play there in FA competitions.
Town's game is the first time since Ashton Athletic lost 2-1 over there in a Second Round Vase tie in season 2007-08 that a club from our league has travelled to the ground, but since the dawn of the millennium, the club known as the Synners have also played Colne, Congleton Town, St Helens Town, Squires Gate and Maine Road in Vase ties home and away.
Runcorn Town will take encouragement from the fact that Saturday's opponents have a more impressive record away from home than at home in the league, and 5 defeats out of 13 home games goes some way to explaining why they sit in 9th place in the Northern League Division One, 15 points behind leaders Whitley Bay.
But Synthonia have an impressive record in the FA Vase, with their most notable season being in 2006-07, when they reached the semi-final only to lose on penalties to AFC Totton. Their next most impressive run in the competition was last season when they reached the Fifth Round, and with home advantage they will be looking to match that again at Town's expense on Saturday.
However, one record that is unlikely to be broken on Saturday is the FA Vase record for the highest scoring match, which Synthonia achieved when they beat Washington Nissan 9-7 in 2002!
In carrying out some research on Saturday's opponents, Town Secretary Martin Fallon uncovered a fascinating historic link between both clubs.
An interesting aside to the game is that both teams were formed by workers of the old ICI. Runcorn Town were known as Mond Rangers until 2005, with the club formed in 1968 by employees of ICI's Mond Division which was based in Runcorn.
Billingham were formed in 1923 with their very first ground on ICI's original sporting complex, and they have had a strong ICI connection ever since. Their unique name Synthonia was a product that ICI produced at their Billingham plant.
The different ICI plants across the country also used to have their own football teams who played inter-works games against each other. Several of our committee have played at Billingham, with our current President Roy Roberts recalling a game in which he played in the late 1980's where Billingham ICI won 1-0.
We are under no illusions that Saturday's game at Billingham will be easy. Any team that reaches the last 32 of a national cup competition has to be a good side and they have a lot of experience in the FA Vase.
This season Consett knocked out Ramsbottom, one of the best sides in our league, in the Second Round, yet in the next round they lost 4-0 at Billingham which shows what we are up against. Since that win over Consett, they have lost just one of eight matches, and their recent home form is excellent.
They have an excellent playing surface which Middlesbrough Reserves use sometimes for matches. Many people I have spoken to since the draw, who have been up to Billingham, have commented that it is like playing on a snooker table, so hopefully that will encourage us to get the ball down and play football which is where we are at our most dangerous.
We have a full squad to choose from with no suspensions, which is what you want when games like this come around, and there is no reason we can't progress if we play as we can.
It is amazing that we have been drawn away yet again. Since we first entered the Vase last season, six of our seven ties in the competition have been away from home! We are however unbeaten on the road and all of the lads enjoy our road trips”. We have a full coach with supporters filling up the spare seats, whilst several are making the trip up to the North East in cars”.
Manager Simon Burton echoed Martin's view that their away days in the Vase have been a great experience for everyone at the club.
I think the away draw in a lot of ways is a boost for us. I'm actually quite pleased we have been drawn away from home, because I know the lads are all looking forward to it, although obviously the club officials would have preferred a home draw.
The lads love the coach journeys, and it's a great atmosphere on the coach. We can have a bit of a laugh on the way there, and hopefully if we win, as we have done in all our other away ties in the Vase, the lads can have a good journey home and have a couple of drinks. It's good for team spirit and I think that was one of the reasons why we did so well last year.
The togetherness we had as a team really stemmed from the Vase games and all the away trips we had last season, and it's been the same this season. Obviously going to Glossop in the last round wasn't such a long journey but we still all went together as a team, and had a good time on the way.
This time we have a longer coach journey and I'm sure there will be a lot of banter on the way, and if we can get the right result then that should set us up for the rest of the season.
We obviously have been concentrating on the league, but we always say that the cup ties are for the lads, and it's a big game for the club. The lads always seem to be up for Vase games, with the results we have had in the last two seasons, and fingers crossed we can go one step further than we did last season.
I do think the Northern League is probably the strongest league in the country at our level, you only have to look at how many teams they still have left in the Vase. I think that in itself tells you what the strength of their league is like, and explains why they have done well in the competition over the years.
We know it is another tough game, but it is against a team who are in mid-table, so we have to go there fancying our chances.
I've been doing a bit of research on Billingham on the internet, and one of our club officials knows someone who lives up that way, so they have sent through various bits of information on them. But I feel it's down to how we set up on the day and go about it, and if we are competitive we are capable of beating anyone at this level.
It's only 11 v 11, and if we can get ourselves up for it we've got a chance, and we shouldn't need any sort of encouragement to get up for the game because it's a big competition that everyone wants to do well in.
We are quietly confident we can go there and get a result”.
While Runcorn's opponents are a familiar name to many who have followed the NWCFL over the years, it's fair to say that Norton United's opponents Peterborough Northern Star are not so well known in North West non-league circles.
The club play in the Premier Division of the United Counties League, and have a long history, having originally been formed as a brickyard team based in the Eye area of Peterborough in the early 1900s.
They were initially named Northern Star, before adopting the name Eye United in the 1950s, which they kept until 2005, two years after they joined the United Counties League, when they reverted back to the name of Peterborough Northern Star. However, the club's nickname of The Eyes” keeps a link to past history.
Recent seasons have seen them make continued progress in establishing themselves in the Non-League Pyramid, being promoted to the Premier Division of the United Counties League in 2009-10, and last season finishing in a very creditable 6th place in their first season at Step 5.
This season they have maintained their position in the top six of the United Counties Premier Division, although their form in recent league games has been a little erratic, with just one win in their last six league games, including a 2-1 defeat at home to Daventry Town last Saturday.
Like Runcorn Town, Star will be no strangers to an away tie in the FA Vase, with their Third Round 2-0 win over Armthorpe Welfare at their Chestnut Avenue home being the only home tie they have played to reach this stage of the competition.
Prior to that game, they beat Boldmere St Michaels 2-0 in the Second Round, Ellistown 2-0 away in the First Round, and started their Vase campaign in the Second Qualifying Round with a 2-1 win at Rushden & Higham United.
It promises to be a tough test for Norton United, but Secretary Dennis Vickers says everyone at the club is delighted to be hosting a tie in the last 32 of the Vase for the very first time.
As the game approaches I am getting a little bit more excited and can't wait for the game to start. Our off field preparations are almost complete, and we just hope for a good crowd and good weather.
We are expecting FA Council members from Staffordshire and Northamptonshire to be at the game, and I am told to also expect several League Committee members and various other officials from elsewhere.
The support we have received - and I am sure Runcorn Town have too - from the clubs in our League has given us a real boost, and I am sure we will represent the League well. I am determined to enjoy the day.
I know that the players are ready for the game. Our manager will have done his homework and the team will be well prepared. My hope is that we play to our ability and whatever the outcome we have no regrets".
From a playing angle, Norton United manager Scott Dundas says their run in the competition has been a great boost for team spirit and morale.
The Vase run has been terrific for keeping the momentum going. We've played 30 games this season, and apart from being knocked out of the FA Cup, which obviously we were never going to win anyway, we are unbeaten in the league and still in all the cup competitions we've entered. We've gone 22 games undefeated since the FA Cup game back in September, so it's been a good run for us.
We didn't know much about Peterborough Northern Star when the draw was made, but we've had them watched recently, we felt there wasn't much point in doing that too early. They are doing well in their league, they are a division higher than us and near the top of their league, so we know it's going to be a tough game.
The big advantage for us is getting a home draw, we feel that is a big plus for us. We have played seven cup ties at home this season and won all seven, so hopefully that gives us a bit of a platform to go on and hopefully progress into the next round.
The lads are really up for it and really buzzing. I think of the squad, there's only myself and Richard Smith who have ever gone further than the Fourth Round of the competition, and some of the lads have never been past the First Round before. So they are all really looking forward to it, enjoying the journey and seeing the little bits of publicity locally that we are getting from the Sentinel newspaper when the games come around.
Although we have had Peterborough Northern Star watched, and will know a bit about them by the time we play them, that doesn't mean we will be looking to alter our game plan much. We'll just go for it and see what happens, and hopefully we will keep the flag flying for the North West Counties League in the competition”.
Good luck to both teams, and let's hope both are celebrating on Saturday night.
