Burnham v Cobham
FA Vase Second Round Proper
My 40th matchday of the season also coincided with my 150th game since starting the Wandering Tractor project at the beginning of the 22/23 season. Not a bad tally considering I missed four months of action last season due to a couple of operations.
This season I’m attempting to go as far into completing seeing a game in every round of the FA Vase as possible, which probably won’t happen due to travel issues in the future, but for now this would be my fourth tie in the competition so far. When looking to celebrate the 150 match milestone I had considered visiting a new ground or making a long trip but in the end decided on heading back to a place I’ve come to love going to, the 1878 Stadium in Burnham for their tie with Cobham.
One of the good things with travelling in this direction is there is rarely a problem with the trains, touch wood; I’ve not yet had a problem with travelling via the Elizabeth Line. And so it was again, going in a different direction to all the rugby fans heading to Twickenham (which was also a major consideration after last week!) reaching Burnham station at 12.45pm, before taking on the half hour hike to the ground.
It’s always a pleasure to visit the 1878 and I always receive a great welcome from Paul, Michelle, Michele and the Burnham superfan Brin. It’s always good to catch up with these guys and their fantastic hospitality is always greatly appreciated. Also covering the game today was the talented 17 year old sports photographer Louis Woodington who I’d met at the Bracknell v South Park FA Cup tie earlier in the season. You’ll find a link to his excellent photos from this game at the bottom of the page. Good to catch up with you Louis!
Also in attendance today was a player/coach/manager and father of a football dynasty I’d first seen in action playing for Chelsea and Fulham back the 70s & 80s, Ray Lewington. His son Craig is the current Cobham manager.
Before the game we had a two minute silence to remember the fallen from the two World Wars and beyond which was observed impeccably.
The game kicked off as it would continue, a frantic battle in midfield with very few goalscoring opportunities at either end. Home captain Jamie Mitchell picked up an early yellow for going through the back of Reis Stanislaus in a competitive first half hour and Kristian Belousas did have a half chance for Burnham but his effort from distance flew over the bar.
The visitors forced a free kick from wide left which was cleared away for a corner which came to nothing and a Patrick Murray free kick from the right was swung towards the penalty spot where it was met by Jacob Desa but he couldn’t get his header on target and it cleared the crossbar.
In the 37th minute we did finally get our first strike on goal. A Burnham long ball down the right flank was cleared by Ryan Maclean and headed further away midway in the Cobham half before being picked up by Belousas. He controlled and threaded a pass through to Abdel Mouman Sahnoun who turned his marker, cut inside and fired a shot past Conrad Knight and into the bottom corner. 1-0
After that one moment of composure we had another ten minutes of midfield attrition before the referee blew for the half time break.
H-T: Burnham 1 Cobham 0
The second half started in much the same vein, both defences able to snuff out any half chances; Cobham started pushing to try to get back into the tie with plenty of long balls to try to pick out the strong and pacy forward line of Elijah Simpson, Derick Hayford and Reis Stanislaus but they were well covered by the Burnham defence.
The Hammers did have a few half chances, another Murray cross was met by the head/shoulder of Stanislaus but ended up safely in the arms of Archie Cunningham in the home goal. A nice passing move down the right by Simpson and Oscar Burlingham opened up a shooting opportunity for Desa but again his effort was too high.
Burnham were now soaking up the pressure while attempting to hit the visitors on the break using the pace and skills of Mohemmed Ihid. On one such break, Murray was guilty of waiting for the ball to come to him on halfway where substitute Romero Smart-Tull nipped in and ran to the edge of the area but screwed his show well wide.
Murray was involved again this time in opposition territory, swinging a dangerous cross into the near post area where Simpson managed to get a head on it only to see his header end up the wrong side of the post. Cobham next won a free kick 25 yards out which was taken quickly to try to play in Hayford in the box but Cunningham read it well and rushed out to clear.
The game then went into a tetchy period with the referees whistle blowing seemingly every 10 seconds for an infringement. The visitors did finally get a shot on target and force Cunningham into a save after 87 minutes when Ashby Charles hit a shot from the edge of the box but the keeper was there to save low down to his right.
In a vast amount of added time for injuries and substitutions the visitors thought they’d been given a lifeline when Maclean appeared to be brought down in the area only for referee David Evans to book the Cobham player for simulation.
At 5.05pm the referee finally brought the game to a close and it was the single moment of quality from Abdel Mouman Sahnoun in a hard fought battle that sent the home side into the hat for round three.
F-T: Burnham 1 Cobham 0
My player of the match would have to be Burnham’s Joel Ampabeng. The tall and pacy centre back had the tough task of keeping Simpson quiet which he did superbly. He marshalled the defence really well and was always there to cover when needed.
Congratulations to Burnham on the win which keeps Brin’s wish of seeing his beloved Burnham play at Wembley in the FA Vase alive! Commiserations to Cobham who made plenty of openings in the match but just didn’t make the Burnham keeper work enough.
Good luck to Burnham in the next round and to both sides for the rest of the season.
As promised, here the link to Louis’ photo gallery from the game. Enjoy!
