FA Vase 1st Qualifying Round
Stone Old Alleynians have earned an FA Vase replay with Ellesmere Rangers following a 2-2 (aet) draw at Beech Grove on Saturday.
The Old Boys trailed 1-0 to their higher-league opposition at the halfway stage, before early second half strikes from Carl Dibden and Matt Thomas put the Stone side in front. With just 10 minutes remaining, the WMRL Premier Division side found an equaliser to take the tie into extra time. Neither side was able to find a winner over the next 30 minutes, meaning a return tie will be played at Wellbeing Park on Wednesday of this week.
A frenetic start to proceedings saw the Old Boys penned into their own half as a young, lively Rangers side fizzed the ball around and ran in behind the Alleynians defence. Twenty minutes in, Ellesmere made their pressure count and carved their way through the Old Boys back-line. A flick over the top allowed Rangers’ Joshua Brown a run into the box, and he finished neatly past Lewis Paglia to put the home side one up.
The goal seemed to wake the visitors, and the Alleynians started putting more passes together as they settled into the game, though they never really tested the Ellesmere goalkeeper.
The second half started as quickly as the first, but this time it was the Old Boys in the ascendency. A forward ball from Luke Askey found Paul Griffiths, who bundled his way across the box to find Dibden, and the forward smashed home his 5th goal of the season to level the scores in the 47th minute.
The Old Boys attacks began to show more potency, and minutes later Matt Thomas robbed his opposing centre-half of the ball 25 yards from goal. The youngster showed excellent composure to curl the ball around the ‘keeper and into the far corner to put his side in front, much to the delight of his team-mates who rushed forward to congratulate him.
Dean Buckley had a chance to make it three shortly after, but powered his header straight at the goalkeeper following good work from Mike Meszaros down the left. With the game slipping away from them, Rangers made changes and switched to a 3-4-3, a move that paid dividends with 10 minutes remaining as Scott Ryan took advantage of a tiring Alleynians side to find the net.
A free-kick on the halfway line was fired over Stone’s Dick Hewitt and found Ryan, who was quickly forced backwards by his marker. Smart work from the Ellesmere frontman enabled him to manoeuvre into a shooting position though, and he fired a deadly left-foot effort into Paglia’s bottom corner from just outside the box .
Paglia was called upon shortly after, as the otherwise excellent Grant Bigham found himself caught in possession, resulting in the Rangers no.10 running through, though Paglia scrambled back in time to make a smart save and force a corner.
As extra-time ensued both sides brought on fresh legs, but a largely uneventful 30 minutes saw neither side come close to finding a winner, despite late pressure from the hosts.
“I’m proud of the lads today,” said Old Boys manager Matt Smith afterwards.
“We managed to come out of a difficult first 20 minutes to play some good football and get ourselves in front. We matched them all over the pitch, with centre backs Luke Askey and Sam Wilson impressing hugely, and it was a shame we couldn’t hold on to the lead. Come Wednesday we’ll be ready for another big performance.”
Stone Old Alleynians: Paglia, Hewitt, Wilson, Askey, Bigham, Meszaros, Whalley (Matthews), Buckley (Griffin), Griffiths, Thomas (Farrelly), Dibden
Unused subs: Ratcliffe, Hodgkinson
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