Match Report – Fleet Town Reach Third Round Of FA Vase For First Time Ever
A single early goal proved vital in this competitive Vase match, as Fleet Town held out against Rochester United to progress through to the Third Round of the Isuzu FA Vase, for the first time in the club’s history.
From Fleet’s first attack of the match, the ball was played long and collected by Lekan Osideko near the corner, he ran along the by-line into the box, before being tackled with Rochester knocking the ball behind for a corner to Fleet Town. A brilliant delivery of the corner by Nick Medcraft into the six yard box, the ball found its way into the net, possibly touched by an under pressure defender on its way, to put Fleet Town ahead after a couple of minutes.
Rochester United soon had some long periods of possession, as they looked to get back into the game, Jack Nelson, from the right wing, played a couple of dangerous crosses in front of the Fleet goal, which keeper Finlay Purcell was able to come out and collect safely. Jack Nelson next had an opening from the inside channel and took a shot himself, trying to beat the keeper at his near post, but Finlay Purcell got to the ball to push it round the post for a corner, this was played in and Rochester got the first head to the ball before it was cleared by the Fleet defence. Rochester’s best chance of the half came ten minutes before half time, a cross from Tom Webb found its way all the way across to Max Morgan on the far side and his shot struck the outside of the post and went behind. A final chance of the half for Rochester came when a Harrison Hume cross found the head of an attacker but rose sharply and easily cleared the bar. The game reached half time with Fleet Town holding onto their slender 1-0 advantage, in front of Rochester’s best crowd of 236, double their average being bolstered by many travelling Fleet Town supporters that had given up their Saturday to travel to Kent and support the team.
The second half started with an early chance for Fleet, with Lekan Osideko’s chance being turned away for a corner, but this time Rochester were able to deal with the corner and clear the danger. As Fleet built their next attack Josh Stepney was brought down as he approached the halfway line, the referee was hesitating if he should blow the whistle or play advantage with Tane Caubo in possession, but before he could make up his mind Tane Caubo was down in a heap on the ground and players on both sides reacted and lots of pushing and shoving as the referee blew and blew until peace could be restored, after a long discussion between the referee and his assistant on that side, the Red Card came out and Lucas Payne of Rochester was sent off, all this time Tane Caubo was still down receiving treatment. The game restarting with a free kick to Fleet back in their own half where Josh Stepney was fouled.
Even with ten players and keeping one further back to cover Payne’s position, Rochester were still creating some chances, Max Morgan brought the ball down the right and as he cut inside Finlay Purcell advanced to face him, but good footwork from Max Morgan gave him the space to shoot past the Fleet keeper, but he smashed the ball against the post. Jack Nelson set up a chance for Ben Wyness, his shot being cleared off the line by the Fleet defence for a corner, this corner reached a Rochester player but he could only shot harmlessly wide. Fleet Town were first to make a change bringing on Danilo Cadete after 66 minutes for Lekan Osideko, almost immediately Danilo Cadete was in the action, his first couple of runs down the right and crosses were cut out by the Rochester defence, as Rochester started to tire Fleet had a spell of dominant possession and had several chances to find the second goal which might have killed the game off. Nick Medcraft crossed to the far post and Danilo Cadete headed the ball goalward forcing Chris Swift into making a save. After 76 minutes Tane Caubo went down and after a second spell of treatment on his earlier injury, he was brought off and replaced by Dan Bone. Another dangerous cross was played across from Danilo Cadete and reached Dean Rule on the opposite wing, he cut back in and got a shot away, but it went wide of the target. late on Danilo Cadete had another opening but kill the game off but shot wide. Fleet’s failures to convert these chances seemed to give Rochester renewed hope of still getting something from the game and they made their first change after 87 minutes. A chance came for Jack Nelson after 90 minutes but he shot over, Rochester brought on two more subs in added time, including Tom Loynes in the eighth minute of added time and it was Tom Loynes who had the chance of glory, his shot brought a fantastic save from Finlay Purcell as he tipped the ball over the bar, giving Rochester a corner, for which keeper Chris Swift was also brought up, but the Fleet defence stood strong and blocked the couple of efforts that the home side created, before the referee blew to bring the contest to a close, sparking wild celebrations amongst the Fleet Town players and supporters.
Fleet Town now await the draw for the next round, being released by the FA on Monday afternoon (11th), the next round is due to be played on 7th December, which does mean that the league game that day away to Guildford City will be postponed and rearranged for another date.
