FA VASE PREVIEW: ELY CITY v SPORTING KHALSA...

Preview: FA Vase Last 16:

ELY CITY v SPORTING KHALSA, 28th JANUARY 2017

Ely City host Sporting Khalsa this weekend for the right to qualify for the last eight of the FA Vase and in truth the two clubs’ current league form is quite a contrast.

Ely, from the Eastern Counties League currently lie 17th, winning and drawing 6 matches, whilst losing 12 times, with a goal difference of -10. Their overall home and away records in all competitions are surprisingly similar though: they have won 7, drawn 3 and lost 7 of their home matches, whilst winning 6, drawing 3 and losing 7 of their away encounters. Their goal difference for all competitions is -3, having netted 55 and conceded 58.

ALEX THEOBALD: ELY'S LEADING SCORER WITH 13 GOALS...

Their leading goalscorer is Alex Theobald, who has notched 13 goals, followed by four players on 6: George Darling, Kelvin Enaro, Ash Walter & Tom Williams. Since their last FA Vase game v Shepshed Dynamo, Ely have managed a couple of 1-1 draws on the road, at Mildenhall Town and at Saffron Walden Town but they lost their home match last Saturday, 0-1 to a Fakenham Town header.

The form they have conjured up in the FA Vase has been quite different however and after defeating both Kirkley/Wakefield 3-2, then Diss Town 4-2 at home, their next three matches were all on the road, where they won 1-3 @ Northampton ON Chenecks, 0-3 @ Wadham Lodge and 2-3 @ Welwyn Garden City. The 3-0 victory in the last round against Midland League Shepshed was a fine result and Khalsa of course are from the same division.  

ELY v SHEPSHED...

Khalsa have only played four ties thus far, due to their decent record in the tournament recently and following a 1-0 victory over Hanley Town, they then won well at Midland League pacesetter Alvechurch’s Lye Meadow ground, 1-2. A ridiculous but remarkable 5-5 home draw v Sleaford Town followed next but Sporting won the Lincolnshire replay impressively, 0-3. A single goal victory over visitors Tring Athletic earned the Black Country team a place in the last 16 and this tie at Ely.

DAVE MEESE: 21 GOALS FOR KHALSA...

Khalsa lie 5th in the Midland League with games in hand over leaders Alvechurch, due to their Vase exploits. They have won 13 of their 23 league games, drawing 4, losing 6 and scoring 47 goals, whilst conceding 28. In all competitions, they have conceded only 17 away goals in 18 games, scoring 39 themselves, winning 12 of 18 matches and losing only 4. At home, they have won 10 of 19, whilst losing 5. 

Sporting’s leading scorer is David Meese with 21, followed by Craig Bannister who has 11 and then Dan Ashton with 7.

Khalsa have won their last five games, including the Vase victory over Tring but their home match v Quorn was postponed last Saturday.

To reach this particular round, Ely beat Shepshed with a pair of headers from Tom Williams and Ash Shipp, plus a George Darling finish on a break after 76 minutes.

TOM WILLIAMS...

ASH SHIPP...

GEORGE DARLING...

Khalsa’s close fight against Tring was decided by a Dave Meese penalty in the 77th minute, but ‘keeper Tom Turner also made a couple of fine first-half saves. A bad challenge by Tring’s O’Connor caused a 21 man melee in the final sour moments but the victory was Sporting’s.

LUKE SHEARER: WON THE DECISIVE PENALTY...

KHALSA 'KEEPER TOM TURNER: GOOD SAVES...

Representatives from both teams have kindly agreed to comment on the game for my blog and here are the views of ELY CITY’S Martin Grey:

MARTIN GREY...

“For Ely City this is the biggest game in our history since we played in the first round of the FA Cup 60 years ago. In his previous two seasons Brady Stone had not won an FA Vase tie so to win 6 this season and to reach the last 16 of the competition for the first time ever is something of a surprise to many.

After promotion back to the Eastern Counties Premier Division last season the league form has been fairly inconsistent and currently we are involved in a relegation battle but with a few games in hand we are confident of pushing away.

The FA Vase has been something of a distraction for the players. No pressure has been placed on winning any of the games and the players have been able to go out and enjoy them.  They have put in some excellent performances, scoring at least 3 goals in every round. 

Everyone in the squad has played their part but a special mention must go to winger Kelvin Enaro who has produced some match winning displays in the competition and actually made his debut from the bench in the first qualifying round against Kirkley.

After 3 successful away games it was nice for the club to get a home draw in the fourth round which resulted in a record crowd at the Unwin.

The 5th round match against Sporting Khalsa will be approached the same as the other rounds. Full respect will be given to the opposition but no fear. Brady Stone has resisted having the opponents watched and will focus on his own team. Apart from a few minor knocks Stone has nearly a full squad to choose from.

We hope to get another bumper crowd at the Unwin and the club would like to thank all of those who have helped in promoting the game and providing sponsorship…”

IAN ROWE, the SPORTING KHALSA manager rang me on Tuesday evening before his team’s Walsall Senior Cup tie at Chasetown, where Khalsa recovered from 0-3 down to draw level with goals from Lawley, Bannister and Rogers, only to go down 4-3 in a penalty shootout. This is what the enthusiastic ‘Rowey’ had to say…

IAN ROWE...

Ian told me that he is so looking forward to the important tie on Saturday and that he is under no illusion that Ely will be a tough proposition. He watched City’s match against Fakenham last Saturday because his own team’s game had been postponed and he felt that City were very unfortunate to lose by the only goal. 

He felt that Ely had a lot of pace in the team and Kelvin Enaro was particularly good, was a constant danger and a harrowing menace to the Fakenham defence.

Ian reckoned that Ely will be contesting a team of ‘outsiders’ from the faraway Black Country in front of maybe 400-500 spectators in a hostile atmosphere and like a ‘band of brothers’ the hosts will thrive on making it difficult for Khalsa. He is acutely aware that Ely beat Shepshed Dynamo 3-0 in the previous round, a team his own outfit lost 1-0 to, suggesting that if Sporting turn up and perform only the basics, they cannot expect to progress in the FA Vase.

He reasoned that Khalsa’s approach has to be positive and if his players can fulfil their potential then they are capable of giving any Step 5 team a game…

Ian concluded that he needed his players to be bang on, compete fully and then, that being the case, an exciting game would be in prospect. 

In a professional approach to the tie, the squad will be staying overnight in Cambridge to alleviate fatigue and indeed simply to do the right thing to give the players every chance to advance in the competition.

Rowey then added: “God willing…”  

This will be my first visit to Ely City’s ground from Solihull, but I must comment that I have always been incredibly welcomed at Noose Lane, in the Aspray Arena by the kind staff and enthusiastic coaching team of Sporting Khalsa… 

NOOSE LANE IN 2008...

On my first visit to Noose Lane, it was Willenhall's home ground and visiting Retford United's White caused bleeding to Willenhall striker McKenzie with a wildly high foot but when the red shirted Willenhall striker was advised to change his bloody shirt by the officials, he responded with, "Why? It’s red anyway…" Hmm, I doubt that McKenzie was jesting, either...

Let’s hope for a memorable tie…