Goals:

MATCH REPORT

It was back to wind and rain in normally sunny Sussex by the sea when Chertsey Town visited Arundel in Saturday's FA Vase episode. The bastions of the adjacent castle looked down on the sodden venue and, although only built as a facade to the Duke of Norfolk's country seat, proved to be a fitting backdrop for a game dominated by stout defence. Only one breech was achieved which was enough to mark the demise of the visitors' ambitions of further cup glory.

Chertsey was unable to break down the Arundel defence which played with organisation and purpose. Perhaps the seeds of this defeat were sown two rounds earlier at Oakwood, when Paul Brooker received two yellow cards resulting in his suspension for this tie as he has demonstrated previously, the skill to break through from the flanks. He was missing and no-one else was able to deliver enough decisive crosses. The home side were restricted too so it did not take long to realise that one goal would probably enough for either side to get through to Round Two, and so it proved.

Only half chances were created in the opening period with Arundel's Jason Wimbleton forcing a good save from Paul Smith in the Chertsey goal and, at the other end John Pomroy striking the ball fully against the Arundel upright from 20 yards with their goalkeeper well beaten. Chertsey worked hard in all departments but found it difficult to deliver potent balls into the opposition penalty area. Arundel broke through on the counter with slightly more venom and Smith had to be brave on more than one occasion in acting as sweeper, twice receiving treatment in collisions for his pains.

With the referee initially flourishing yellow, seemingly at will, it looked inevitable that the Arundel number nine would receive his second card in quick time for crashing into an advancing Smith. But he survived the threat and a more measured response to events was then regulated on a game that came close to being dominated by over reactive officiating. A more positive feature on the grey afternoon was the solid return of Steve Gibson at full back in his first outing after sustaining broken bones in his hand a fortnight previous.

Apart from Pomroy's 22nd minute encounter with the Arundel woodwork, Chertsey's best chances of breaking an increasingly apparent deadlock, perhaps came midway through the second half when two free kicks were awarded within minutes of each other, centrally just outside the penalty area. But on each occasion the ball was smacked against the defensive wall with strikes that never looked to likely to create real danger.

In contrast, Arundel won one such similar free kick but with this lone opportunity, coming on 71 minutes, the ball was routed round a somewhat less than effective rampart with Mike Hackett directing it into the bottom corner of the Chertsey net. In response, the Chertsey bench had to be bold with a change of strategy. In his first game for Chertsey playing a central defending role, Martin Beard, was one of those replaced in a double substitution that involved both Kevin Cooper and Leon Johnson coming on to beef up Chertsey's front line in an all or nothing attempt to grasp an equalizer. Hard working Anthony Vine in midfield was the other player to be replaced.

Although this created a lot more forward movement and a string of corners to their credit, there never seemed to be enough room around the Arundel backdoor to give a clear cut chance and Chertsey's Vase quest steadily subsided as they also fought against the wind and rain as well as a buoyed home defence. Town's Vase adventures this season have invariably been on a knife edge, but up to now, they have always managed to tip fortune in their favour. However, this brinkmanship failed them this time round and so the side will have to knuckle down on the main stage of domestic football and the prime target of the season, the league championship and promotion back to the Ryman ranks.

See Andy Ollerenshaw's very informative blog "Chasing theVase" depicting his adventures as he travels (starting and hopefully finishing with Chertsey at Wembeley Stadium) to each round to the FA Vase. Click on the link below. Alas, this is the last time this year that Andy will see Chertsey Town in the FA Vase but, keep follinging his tales about wherever the journey takes him and we wish him well.