Holbeach United    2                      Dube 4, Duffy 70

Erith & Belvedere   3 (aet)             Walker 14, Miller og 34, Marsh 100

FA Vase 5th round, 14 February 2015

 

Continuing the series counting down the 100 most memorable games in our history.  Today, one (and a half) of our greatest awaydays which took us to the last eight and two wins from Wembley.

 

The remarkable achievement of Matt Longhurst in 2014-15 was to revive a club which had been through the trauma of instant relegation from the Ryman North.  An opening-day 6-2 away win and six wins to kick off the season helped, as did Alfie May reaching 20 goals by 20 September.  Centrepiece of the season was a marvellous FA Vase run which began with a 2-1 extra-time win at Eastbourne Town.  (This was sadly the last Deres game Martin Tarrant saw: the much-loved Deres director died four days later aged only 58.) 

 

The next two rounds saw away wins at Horsham YMCA and Hanworth Villa, the latter being an unprecedented 9th consecutive away win in all competitions.  In the fourth round at home to Yaxley in January, Byron Walker’s box-to-box run set up Adam Marsh for a 5th-minute goal, and George Kamurasi’s display in goal was such that a special category for Performance of the Season was created at the end-of-season presentation.

 

The fifth round brought a trip to Holbeach, getting Deres fans poring over train routes to Lincolnshire.  The team and some officials and supporters stayed at the Spalding Travelodge the night before the tie on 7 February, and found a local pub displaying a sign wishing Deres well against Spalding’s local rivals!  However the state of the pitch was such that the game was postponed, and a coachload of supporters was turned back at the M25/M11 junction as the news reached them.  A week later Valentine’s Day became a great awayday…

 

DERES MAKE HISTORY AS THEY REACH THE LAST EIGHT

 

A true thriller of a cup tie took place at Holbeach United as The Deres continued their fantastic FA Vase run reaching the Quarter Finals for the first time in the club’s history.

 

This game had it all, five goals one of them being an own goal, extra time, chances, talking points, 11 yellow cards and one red.  But it began with a calamity for Deres - a long goal-kick from Nick Conroy fell for Livo Dube, catching Deres keeper George Kamurasi in no-man’s-land as he advanced and lobbing him from 30 yards.  1-0 to Holbeach after three minutes sending the home fans into wild celebrations.

 

The Deres came to life after falling behind and began to push forward attempting to exploit the flanks on the small pitch it took ten minutes for The Deres to equalise when Adam Marsh set up Byron Walker on the left-hand side of the box, who controlled the ball expertly and slotted past Conroy to equalise.

 

Kamurasi’s kicking looked distinctly nervy for a while after this, and Danny Spencer nearly capitalised on one dodgy clearance, but the giant Ugandan has few peers as a keeper at this level and soon proved his worth with outstanding saves from Jamie Clarke and Jake Duffy, while at the other end Alfie May and Allan Matthews just failed to get a final touch in a scramble.

 

It was Matthews who set up the goal that put Deres ahead on 34 minutes, but with little Deres input – his cross was headed back to the keeper by Kern Miller, who held his head in his hands as the stranded Conroy missed the header and the ball rolled into the net.  Despite Dube’s shot just wide just before half-time, Deres looked comfortable in the lead.

 

Holbeach started the second half fired up and began to apply heavy pressure testing the Deres defence and goalkeeper on a difficult surface. Ben Wilson was introduced into the game in the 66th minute replacing Byron Walker then four minutes later a defensive mix-up saw the ball cannon off a defender into the path of Jake Duffy, who made no mistake just inside the box to make it 2-2.  Duffy set up Miller for a chance soon afterwards which went too high, but 33-goal striker Alfie May came closest to a late winner on 86 minutes when his dipping shot was tipped over the bar by Conroy.

 

Holbeach had shaded the second half, but Deres stepped up a gear in extra-time, and the tenth minute brought the best move of the match.  Substitute Ben Wilson was released down the left wing and sent over an inch-perfect cross which was met on the volley by Marsh.  An emphatic shot bulged the net to cause mayhem among the Deres team and on the bench.  It was later described by Matt Longhurst as “a goal worthy of winning any game.”

 

Deres were able to defend from the front for most of the remaining 20 minutes, and frustrated Holbeach went down to ten men when substitute Matt Nolan was shown a red card for clattering Sam Groombridge.  The Deres defender suffered a painful ankle injury, but with all three subs having been used, tried to return to the fray in the manner of Monty Python’s Black Knight missing a limb or two; he had limped five yards onto the pitch when the final whistle went, leaving the Deres in the last eight of a national competition for the first time since the FA Amateur Cup of 1945-46.

 

Holbeach United: Conroy, Anton, Parker, Warfield (Gibson 69), Miller, Spencer (Cartwright 19), Beeson, Duffy, Steadman, Clark (Nolan 60), Dube.
 

Deres: George Kamurasi, Allan Matthews (Joe Minter 87), Lee Craig, Colin Richmond, Sam Groombridge, Ryan Johnson, Lee Hales, Luke May, Alfie May, Adam Marsh (Bill Parkinson 120"), Byron Walker (Ben Wilson 66")

 

 

That last-eight match will feature later in the series.