Match Report: Fleet Town Stroll Into Next Round of FA Vase

Fleet Town wasted little time in securing a large early lead in this FA Vase tie against Wessex League side Hamworthy United and progress into the first round proper of this season’s competition, the draw for which was being released by the FA on Monday afternoon (23rd), with the match due to be played on Saturday 19th October.

Early chances fell to Fleet Town, firstly a free kick on the right was taken by Josh Stepney and played across to the far post to Ross Stepney, but his header passed wide of the goal, shortly after Tom Smith took the ball down the left, played it into Chike Kandi, the ball came back to Nick Medcraft, who shot wide. Fleet took the lead on eight minutes when a Dean Rule cross reached Kai Tanner who beat one defender before firing the ball through the hands of the visitors keeper Jeremy James, into the net. Only two minutes passed before Fleet Town doubles their lead, this time it was Chike Kandi providing the ball into Dean Rule for him to fire the ball into the top corner of the net. Fleet could have added to their advantage almost straight away when a chance fell to Dean Rule, but his shot was blocked by Jeremy James and cleared, the next attack saw Chike Kandi shoot from a narrow angle out wide, the ball ran across the face of the goal and hit the far post before being cleared by Hamworthy. The third goal for Fleet came after twenty minutes, when Tom Smith knocked the ball forward to Chike Kandi who took it down to the by-line before crossing to Dan Bone to slide the ball home.

There was a long stoppage for treatment to Liam Pestle, who picked up a head injury, picked up when he and Hamworthy player had both jumped for the same ball. During the break in play, players were able to discuss the game with their management teams and it gave Hamworthy the chance to regroup when the game restarted, while Pestle’s treatment continued off the pitch, eventually Liam Pestle was bandaged up and able to rejoin the fray. A super team move from Fleet involved Tom Smith, Chike Kandi, Dan Bone and Dean Rule before the ball reached Matt Surmon but his shot went over the bar, Dan Bone set up a chance for Nick Medcraft before the break, but his shot also flew over, so Fleet had to settle for only a 3-0 half time lead.

With his head wound stitched at half time, it was decided to let Liam Pestle sit out the rest of the match and he was replaced for the second half by Matthew Kellett-Smith. Five minutes into the half Dan Bone crossed the ball to Dean Rule to fire the ball into the net and make it 4-0 to Fleet Town. Moments later Fleet were in again, Matt Surmon  passed the ball on to Kai Tanner who in turn found Dan Bone, but his shot was saved. From a rare Hamworthy attack, they forced Fleet to concede a corner, this was played into the six yard box and via a couple of heads reached Bailey Rowe who headed the ball over the line to get a goal back for visitors after fifty-six minutes. This did not slow down Fleet as they kept the pressure on Hamworthy as they looked for more goals, Dan Bone passed to Dean Rule who played the ball back to Matt Surmon, but Jeremy James was able to get down to make the save. Chike Kandi passed to Danilo Cadete to shoot, which was blocked but ran to Dean Rule to slot the ball into the net for Fleet Town’s fifth goal and complete his own hat-trick after seventy minutes.

Fleet had to wait until late on to score again, Fareed Hakeem-Habeeb ran into the box and found Danilo Cadete to shoot, his effort was blocked by ran loose to Dan Bone to score his second and Fleet’s sixth goal after 88 minutes. Dan Bone kept looking for the goal in an attempt to complete his own hat-trick, Matthew Kellett-Smith crossed to Dan Bone but his header went over the bar. Matt Surmon played the ball from halfway up to Dan Bone, but his shot was blocked by keeper Jeremy James and cleared. Deep into added time Hamworthy were given a free kick forty yards out, on the right, as Fleet marked up the Hamworthy players down the wing and in the middle, Micky Hubbard saw Callum Backhurst waiting on the edge of his six yard box and lifted the ball over him into the roof of the net, this was met by silence even from the Hamworthy supporters who did not realise it was a goal until the players made their way back up field to lie up for the restart. The final whistle blew almost as soon as Fleet kicked off again and the game was over and a 6-2 victory for Fleet Town.

Line Up : 1 Callum Backhurst, 2 Nick Medcraft, 3 Tom Smith, 4 Josh Stepney, 5 Liam Pestle, 6 Ross Stepney, 8 Matt Surmon, 10 Dean Rule, 17 Kai Tanner, 18 Dan Bone, 19 Chike Kandi.
Subs : 7 Danilo Cadete (on for Tanner 57 mins), 12 Josh Pound (on for Josh Stepney 70 mins), 14 Matthew Kellett-Smith (on for Pestle HT), 15 Cavan Atkinson (on for Ross Stepney 62 mins), 16 Fareed Hakeem-Habeeb (on for Medcraft 62 mins)