We faced a tough assignment in the first qualifying round of the FA Vase away at Step 5 club, Redhill FC.

There were a couple of changes from our win at Worthing United last weekend with Jonny Akoto coming in for the injured Steve Springett and Aaron Bogle replacing the absent Andy Hall. We welcomed back Gavin Quintyne to the club as a new signing with Josh Alder and Riccardo Fernandez being named on the bench for the first time this year.

The first half was a well-fought-out 45 minutes from both sides with ourselves having the best of the chances, but it ended 0-0. Of particular note was the performance of Jaevon Dyer who terrorized the opposition right back and was rightly booked for fouling him not once but two or three times.

We began the second half very well and it was no surprise that we opened the scoring in the 51st minute after a superb headed finish by Brad Peters from an excellent corner. Redhill came back at us forcefully and equalized after a through ball and beat our goalkeeper into the right-hand corner. Midway through the second half, there was a handball by the Redhill No 5 in the penalty area but the referee waved play on. There were very few chances after this and then in the 79th minute after a mixup in our defence Redhill went ahead which is how the game finished.

Another notable incident was when our Captain was sent off as the game entered injury time for a second bookable offence. In truth, it was questionable if it was a foul but the referee thought it was and warranted a second yellow card. This was an incredibly harsh decision by the officials; the opposition supporters near the incident were in agreement too.

So our Vase run for this season ends before it gets started.

Reported By Peter Mutton