Sussex Non-League podcast - episode 6 | FA Cup, Trophy and Vase draws - video Dailymotion

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Matt Pole is joined by Sussex sport gurus Steve Bone and Mark Dunford. The National League South, Isthmian Premier and Isthmian South East seasons are now up and running, with 16 teams across the three divisions hoping to bring glory back to Sussex. It’s been a bright start for some of our sides in the Isthmian Premier - with one topping the table, and two more sitting in the top seven. We bring you all the latest from our clubs at Steps 2 to 4, plus we’ll bring you all the news from the Southern Combination Football League, and preview an exciting weekend of cup action.

Transcript

00:00Welcome to another episode of the Sussex Non-League Podcast, where we take a look at all the latest

00:07goings-on at grassroots football in the county. I'm Matt Poulton, delighted to be joined by

00:11Sussex Sport guru Steve Bowden and Mark Dunford. The National League South, Ismian Premier

00:16and Ismian South East seasons are now up and running, with 16 teams across three divisions

00:20hoping to bring glory back to Sussex. It's been a bright start for some of our sides

00:25in the Ismian Premier, with one topping the table and two more sitting in the top seven.

00:30We'll bring you all the latest from our clubs in steps two to four, plus we'll bring you

00:34all the news from the Southern Combination Football League and preview an exciting weekend

00:38of cup action. But first, we will start in the National League South, where both Worthing

00:43and Eastbourne Borough compete. How have the Reds and Sport started the new season? It

00:47seems like it's been a bit of a mixed start for Borough from what I've seen.

00:51Yeah, as Kevin Anderson, who writes about Eastbourne Borough for us, said, it's like

00:55the weather. Sometimes it can be sparkling, sometimes it can be pretty awful and sometimes

01:00it can be okay. But three games in, it's been a win of the feet and a draw for the sports.

01:05It's not quite what they've hoped for. And I mean, I think we all predicted Borough to

01:08do quite well before the season. But they opened with a one-all draw against Chesham

01:15and then they travelled to another new club, Hornchurch, which they produced a heroic team

01:20performance and a memorable one-nil victory with 10 men. But then on Tuesday night, they

01:25lost two-nil to an experienced Farnborough side. So it's been pretty mixed until now.

01:31I think they're just right there in the middle of the table, 13th. So they need to improve,

01:36I think. But it is still early days and they're sort of finding their feet again, I imagine,

01:41this season. So they've got Averley tomorrow. Averley are a side who have struggled at the

01:46start of this season. So hopefully they can pick up another win there and just sort of build on

01:52confidence from then. But yeah, it's probably, yeah, like we said, we predicted them to do well

01:56and it's been a sort of much-heralded new season, lots of money invested in that. But it hasn't

02:01quite been the start they wanted, but not too bad. But for Worthing, it's been a bit better.

02:06They've only played the two games, one-one and a drawn one. And they're still in their first

02:10run of six games away from home because of the work going on at Woodside Road. But yeah, as we

02:16said before, Agatha sees that as sort of a positive, really, and he sees it as credit in

02:21the bank and believes it could make them stronger because the amount of points, if they can pick up

02:26any points in any of these games, it's a bonus, isn't it? Away from home, always going to be

02:30tough. So, and they're going to have a run of games of home games at some point, which will

02:33be really good. So, and yeah, they're still looking to fill that Ollie Pearce void. And I

02:39think he said, he said this week in our Worthing Herald that he's close to getting their centre

02:45forward. And he's also said there's potential loan of a wide player from the Premier League

02:48to strengthen the side. So, it looks like they're going to get stronger. And yeah, because I think,

02:54yeah, we all predicted Eastbourne to do better than Worthing, but the way Worthing have started,

02:57you've got to be impressed. So, maybe they could both be up there at the end of the season.

03:02So, it'd be really good if they could.

03:04Fingers crossed they both are. But meanwhile, it needs to be in Premier. Horsham, Hastings

03:08and most of all Lewis have enjoyed incredibly positive starts to their respective campaigns.

03:13Steve Bowen, how have those three fared after the opening three games of the new league season?

03:17Yeah. I mean, anyone who watched the previous episode of this podcast would probably have

03:22thought Lewis would have been relegated by now because I think he was pretty much where he was.

03:25But perfect start for them under Craig Nelson. You know, new manager, a lot of new players,

03:30whole new sort of feel of the club. And they've won three out of three so far. Two at home,

03:35they've beaten Chatham at home, who are one of the fancy teams. They've won at Bognor,

03:39which is not, you know, not too many teams will win at Bognor this season, you would think.

03:44And they've beaten Hashtag as well. So, great start for them. As all managers and teams say

03:48after three games when they've done well, it's only three games, not getting carried away,

03:52feet on the floor and so on. But it's probably better than most Lewis fans would have expected

03:58them to start, which is great for them. Hastings and Horsham, who I think we did tip to do well,

04:03have both started reasonably. Both have won two of their first three. I think Hastings are

04:10on seven points, Horsham on six. Solid enough start. Again, at very early days,

04:16but they've given themselves a little platform to build on over the bank holiday weekend and beyond.

04:22Absolutely. You've mentioned Bognor there, Steve. They've enjoyed a less than ideal start to the

04:28Istvan Premier League season, along with Whitehawk. Where do both these clubs find

04:32themselves at this early juncture? Both in the bottom four, to be blunt,

04:35after three games. Both have one point, I think, from three. Not the start they would have wanted.

04:42Bognor are a little unlucky probably to only be on one point. They could easily have got

04:48something from the home game against Lewis and possibly away to Chesunthorpe as well,

04:52where they only just picked up their first point last weekend at Hastings,

04:57where it looked like they were going to lose again. They were 2-0 down

05:0015 minutes to go, fought back for 2-2. That would have given them some heart.

05:03So, as with all the teams, we'll be looking at this bank holiday weekend. You've played three,

05:09you're playing another two now over this weekend, Saturday, Monday. I think some

05:13possibly play Saturday, Tuesday. That's going to sort out them in from the boys a little bit.

05:19But yeah, a rocky start for Bognor and Whitehawk, but plenty of time to pick up.

05:25And what about the division's new boys, Chichester City? How have they equated

05:29themselves in their first handful of games at Step 3, Steve?

05:32Yeah, one win from their first game. They beat Canvey Island at home, came from behind to win

05:37that, which was a great start for them. They've lost two since they lost away to Horsham at home

05:41to Karl Scholten. But I spoke to Miles Rutherford this week, the manager, quite happy overall,

05:46actually, although it's only one win from three. He thinks they've sort of shown that they can hold

05:51their own against good teams. I mean, you were at the Horsham-Chai game. They were a little bit

05:55unlucky to lose that in that it was still one-all. They dragged it back to one-all and it was still

06:01that way without five minutes to go before Horsham found a winner. And equally at home to Karl

06:06Scholten, although they've ended up losing 3-1, it was one-all until sort of midway through the

06:10second half. Then a couple of sort of basic mistakes at the back cost Chichester. And

06:15Rutherford has said that is one thing, one big difference between step four, step three,

06:20is that if you make a little mistake at the back, far more likely to be punished. And that's what

06:24they get after. They'll know that. They've got good coaches in Dabber and Danny Potter there.

06:29They'll be drilling that into them. So I think quite an encouraging start for Chichester.

06:35But they will want to pick up some more points fairly soon. And they've got a tough

06:41bankroll-y weekend ahead playing Dover and Bognor. So, yeah, but a decent start for them.

06:48Yeah, best of luck to them for the rest of the season. But while we have seen some success for

06:51our side in the Istvan Premier, our seven Istvan South East sides have got off to rocky starts,

06:56albeit we've only had one game in that league season. How have the team's final flag for

07:01Sussex got on at this very, very, very, very early stage, Steve?

07:05Not too well, I think is the summary. Eight Sussex teams in that division,

07:11and on the first weekend, one of them ground out a nil-nil draw. That was East Grimstead.

07:16The other seven all lost. So the only way is up. I think all four of the relegation spots

07:22at the moment are filled by Sussex teams. But it's only one game. We're talking about it probably

07:29more than we should already. It's one game. They've got 40-odd to go. I feel a bit sorry

07:34for teams in that division because they've actually had more cup weekends than league

07:38weekends so far. And it's the same this weekend. We'll come on to the FA Trophy a bit later in

07:43the podcast. But to have played one league game when we're sort of three weeks into the season

07:49seems a bit odd. And it will carry on like that for a few more weeks, I think, with FA Cup and

07:53FA Trophy weeks. So I don't think too many of those Sussex teams who haven't won yet

07:59will be worried just yet. I'm sure they'll hold themselves out of danger comfortably, Steve.

08:04We won't have anything to worry about. Meanwhile, two clubs in the SCFL Premier

08:09boast flawless records after four league games. Mark, who are the early runners and riders in

08:14that division? Yeah, annoyingly, one of them is not from Sussex. Petersfield Town are currently

08:19top on goal difference with four wins from four. But Hayward-Seath Town, who again, another team

08:26that I think we predicted to do really well this year, they are there. Four wins out of four.

08:31They haven't conceded a goal yet, scored nine goals, not conceded anything. So

08:36Naeem Ryan told us this week that it's only early days, but I think they set their stall out quite

08:42early and they're going to do well. And they've got Lewis Finney, who in seven games in all

08:47competitions this year has already scored nine goals. We've known him from Lansing and other

08:53teams across Sussex. I think Burgess Hill we played for. And so, yeah, he's a prolific,

08:58prolific player. And if you've got him in your side and if you're not conceding goals,

09:02you're going to win a lot of games. And I think Hayward-Seath will be up there.

09:07Hassox, they're still unbeaten. They've won two, drawn two. And James Westlake this week

09:11celebrated his 100th game in charge of Hassox. So that's good. But Lockswood, I don't know if

09:17they're a bit of a surprise package or not, really. I don't think we mentioned them at all

09:22in our pre-season picks, but they've won three and drawn one of their first four games. So,

09:29yeah, I think you're already seeing a pattern of who's going to

09:32be up there towards the end of the season, but you never know. There's still a long way to go.

09:37Up the magpies, is what I say. Come on, Lockswood. And in the division below,

09:42the SEFL Division One, just one side has managed to maintain a 100 per cent record.

09:47How does the league table look after four games there, Mark?

09:51Yeah, it's Seaford Town. They've won their four out of four. And yeah, they've been pretty

09:57impressive so far. And they've scored 12 goals and only getting two in those. But Forest Row,

10:01Billingshurst and East Preston, all hot on their heels. They've all won three, drawn one,

10:06so on 10 points, just two points behind. So it's very tight at the top there. But Seaford

10:11Town seem to be the early runners. Hayden Beaconsfield, he's got five and five for Seaford.

10:18For Forest Row, Ben Bacon, he's another player who's been quite prolific over the years. He's

10:24got six and six for them. Arundel, who are in fifth. They're the joint top scorers in the league

10:31with 13 goals in four games and 12 of those have come from just two players, Harry Russell and

10:35Ollie Humphreys. So, yeah, you don't want to be coming up against those two if you're playing

10:39Arundel. Look out for them. At the other end, we've got Montpellier, Villa, Copthorne and

10:45Allfold, all yet to register or win. So it's going to be a long season ahead for them, I think. But

10:50Seaford Town, early runners in League One, so they could be up in the Premier Division next year.

10:54And I think my pick to go up AFC Upfield are comfortably a mid-table.

11:01The one team you haven't mentioned there are the team that I've tipped to do well,

11:04Worthing United. Are they somewhere?

11:07They're 11th. They've won two, lost two, scored six, let in six.

11:15I'll remain confident.

11:17You remain confident. They're going to have a surge.

11:20Although I would like to apologise in advance if things go horribly wrong to Upfield.

11:26Last weekend saw several Sussex teams involved in FA Cup preliminary round action and five of

11:31our clubs advanced to the first qualifying round. Steve Bone, who were the lucky quintet to make it

11:36through and how did they manage to advance to the next round?

11:39Yes, all very exciting in the FA Cup for Sussex so far this season. So last weekend we had 12

11:46teams involved in the preliminary round. Five of them have gone through and the successful teams

11:52are Broadbridge Heath, who had a good win in the derby at Horsham YMCA. Two sides from mid-Sussex

11:59have gone through, Burgess Hill Town and Hayward Seath Town, notably Hayward Seath beat Deal Town,

12:05who are from the level above them. Naim Ruan was delighted with that performance and victory,

12:12so they're through as well. Stenning are through. Stenning already knew to step forward,

12:19doing well in the FA Cup as well. And Three Bridges were quite unusual. An unusual little

12:26stat for them is that they beat Saltdean in a replay. Both the first game and the replay

12:32were at Saltdean because of course Three Bridges were not able to play at home at the moment and

12:36I think they chose, instead of choosing to play the replay at home, which would have been over

12:41in Chatham somewhere, they went back to Saltdean and came through 3-1. So we've got those five

12:47teams going through, earning a nice bit of prize money and they will be joined in the next round,

12:53the first qualifying round, by six teams, six Sussex teams from the Isby and Premier, namely

13:00Hastings, Horsham, Lewis, Chichester City, Bognor, Whitehawk. And the good thing is no Sussex Derbys

13:09in all that in the next round, so potentially all 11 could get through and go on to the second

13:14qualifying round and be good. Probably won't be 11 out of 11, but there'll be plenty of interest

13:19in the first qualifying round, which takes place a week tomorrow, 31st August. Yeah, you mentioned

13:25the draw happened on Monday, Steve. Who were our signs drawn against? I've had a quick look

13:31at the draw and it seems that some of the Isby and Premier teams have got quite kind draws,

13:35although that might be the kiss of death. Yeah, you've got a number of teams there that have been

13:40drawn against lower division sides. Bognor and Horsham, notably, are both playing sides who

13:49play two divisions below them. You can't take anything for granted in the FA Cup, but generally

13:53speaking, step three against step five is almost always going to see the step three side going

14:02through. So I've had a quick scan through of the 11 ties that we're looking at in the next round and

14:09you can comfortably see sort of six or seven of the Sussex sides going through.

14:13Just as an example though, Bognor playing Aylesbury Vale Dynamos, who I hadn't heard

14:18of until the cup draw was made and you sent me the details of the draw on Monday afternoon,

14:23I had to look them up. Sounds like something from a Roy of the Rovers comic or something, doesn't it?

14:27Bognor will need to do their homework on them though, because they're clearly a team that are

14:31coming up through the divisions and they could pose a threat. But I think there's a lot of Sussex

14:38teams there, particularly our step three teams will be thinking, yes, we can make further progress

14:42here and we can go on and have a nice little money spinning run. Absolutely. Moving away from the FA

14:48Cup, this Saturday sees three Sussex clubs take part in the preliminary round of the FA Trophy.

14:54Which three clubs are involved, Mr Dunford, and what are their chances of success, do you think?

15:00Well, so Littlehampton are at home to Rayner's Lane, Stenningtown are travelling to South Park,

15:06which is in Rygate, and Lancer are at home to South Hall. Now they're all Ismian South Central

15:11teams, so I don't know a lot about them, I'm not going to lie, but they've all had

15:17mixed starts to the season, just like our Sussex side. So you put money on Littlehampton going

15:24through just because there's such a good home crowd there, and yeah, it can be quite intimidating.

15:30But I think Steve Bone has something to say about Rayner's Lane, an interesting fact

15:34connected with Littlehampton. Well, it's just a little omen, if there's any Littlehampton fans

15:39watching who like good omens. When Littlehampton got to Wembley in May 2022, I obviously went to

15:47Wembley along with some colleagues to cover the final. I parked at Rayner's Lane Tube Station

15:53to get the train into Wembley. So clearly Littlehampton are going to get to Wembley again

15:57this season. Is that a good omen? Because when you parked there, Littlehampton lost 3-0 in the final,

16:02so is that a good omen or a bad omen? That's true. Well, when they get to this season's final,

16:07I will park somewhere else, that's all I'll say. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, no pressure on

16:11George to get to the final, but you know.

16:16Actually, it's a funny one, that FA Trophy, because obviously when Littlehampton got to the

16:19FA Vars final, they were obviously in the top division of the teams that could play in the FA

16:25Vars. Now they're in the bottom division of who can play in the FA Trophy. So it's a long way off.

16:35But yeah, it'd be nice if they had a little run in that. I think them and Lansdowne will probably

16:39win. It's a tough ask for Stenning to go to South Park and get a result, I think. But yeah, it's a

16:45tough competition, certainly. With the FA Vars, it's a little bit more open, isn't it, at the FA

16:52Trophy. You've got the National League sides in there and that, so it's a long way to go.

16:58Yeah, hopefully wins for all three, but I think Littlehampton and Lansdowne stand the best chance

17:04this weekend. Yes, you do make a good point about the FA Trophy because you do get professional

17:08teams, don't you, playing in the FA Trophy, which does make it much tougher for our side.

17:14We'll have Worthing and Eastbourne and Borough joining in with the trophy in later rounds as

17:18well, of course, and maybe both of those would fancy their chances of a good run this year.

17:23Absolutely, and a day out at Wembley, more importantly. And finally, speaking of the FA

17:28Vars, 21 of our county's non-league teams were involved in first qualifying round

17:33action, the FA Vars, also on Saturday. Which of the ties to look out for, Mark? I know there

17:38are a lot of them, but are there any of the chances our sides could make a deep run in

17:41this season's competition and do a Littlehampton? Yeah, well, there's too many cup competitions,

17:47that's what I've gathered from this anyway. But yeah, I suppose the team you have to look at is

17:54Heywood Heath Town because they're doing so well at the start of the season. They've got players who

18:02could beat anyone, and we mentioned Lewis Finney already. So, yeah, you'd have to look at Heywood

18:07Heath as the team who probably stands the best chance of getting fire in it. But it is such a

18:11lottery, the FA Vars, there could be a team in Newcastle that will probably have a star striker

18:18or something there as well. So, yeah, any of these teams think they could probably go far. But we've

18:23got a few All Sussex ties. We've got Montpelier-Villiers versus Heywood Heath Town, but

18:28we've already discussed that. Heywood Heath have won every game, Montpelier-Villiers have lost

18:31every game, so you'd expect them to go through that. You've got Oakwood versus Allfold,

18:36Hasics versus Storrington, Kroger Athletic versus Wick.

18:41Might be the most interesting one, a possible shot, Corsham-YM versus East Preston. East

18:46Preston haven't lost this season yet in Division One, and YM are seventh in the Premier. So,

18:53yeah, East Preston might fancy their chances of pulling off a little minor shock there. But

18:58yeah, it's these early stages, you just hope to get through them and then

19:03avoid the other Sussex teams that do go through. We want to avoid Heywood Heath Town. But there's

19:0821 teams going through, so we could have at least 10 of them, 11, 12, 13 of them going through,

19:15I think. So, yeah, it's an interesting one. Lockswood, who we talked about earlier,

19:19they're away at Kennington. So, hopefully, they can continue their good start to the season and

19:23get through as well. Well, best of luck to all our sides in cup action this weekend.

19:29And as customary for our non-league podcast, each of us will pick a game of the week where we select

19:33a fixture involving a Sussex club that we think you should keep an eye out for. And as it's a

19:38bank holiday weekend, we've all selected one game from Saturday and one from Monday. I will get the

19:43ball rolling. The game on Saturday I think you should keep your eye out for is South Park Rye

19:46Gate against Stenning. And the FA Trophy is, I believe, it's Stenning's first ever FA Trophy

19:51game. So, best of luck to the Bowery in that one. And the game on Monday I think everyone should

19:55look out for is, it's got 100% for me, got to be Chichester City against Bognor, a very local

20:00rivalry. And I think, Steve, it might be their first ever meeting at Step 3, I think. I'm pretty

20:06sure it is. And, well, it must be because Chichester have never been at Step 3 before. And it's also the

20:11first league meeting between the two teams for a very long time. You probably have to go back to

20:18when both are in the county league, which in Bognor's case is a long time ago. So, yeah,

20:23they've played each other in a couple of cups and a lot of friendly since. But,

20:26yeah, lots riding on that. And Chichester are hoping for a huge crowd in Oakland's Park on

20:32Monday afternoon for that one. I've got no doubt that there will be a huge crowd at Oakland's Park.

20:37Mark, what two games have caught your eye over the bank holiday weekend?

20:41Well, Bognor Chai is obviously the main Steve Bone derby, but we're now going to call Little

20:45Hampton Town and Rainers Lane a Steve Bone sort of minor derby. Yes, I'm going for that one because

20:53yeah, Little Hampton, obviously, we all remember when they got to Wembley and that and

20:58it's a chance for them to have another little cup run in the FA Trophy. So,

21:01going there for that, it will always be the atmosphere down there. And on Monday, I've

21:06gone for Eastbourne Town versus Burgess Hill Town, an early six-pointer. I know they've only played

21:09one game each and they've both locked both those games, but they're both in the relegation zone at

21:14the moment if you look at the table this early on in the season. But, yeah, they'd both be looking

21:19to win. I think, again, Burgess Hill Town were another team that we've tipped to do quite well

21:24this year. So, they didn't have the greatest of starts, but they'll be looking to get something.

21:28And again, Saffron's is another great place to go and watch football. Really scenic and

21:32always a good atmosphere there.

21:35All good picks. And finally, Steve, what two games should we look out for, do you think,

21:39this weekend?

21:40Okay. So, Saturday, I'm going to go for one of those FA Vars ties. I'm going to go for

21:45Hassex against Storrington, one of the Sussex derbies. I just got a little feeling that maybe

21:51Hassex might be the team from Sussex to go on a little Vars run and get us excited.

21:58They've had a good couple of years under James Westlake. Mark, you mentioned that he's just had

22:02his 100th game as manager. I read somewhere that he's actually won 50 out of those 100,

22:07which is a great record. Great record at any level, to be honest. But, you know,

22:12Hassex, before he took over as manager, they were a bit mid-table, a few relegation battles.

22:18So, he's really sort of moved them up a few levels. And, of course, they've got Darren

22:22Budd on the staff now, I think, chiefly coaching, but can play a little bit still as well. So,

22:28that sort of experience will serve them well. So, yeah, watch out for Hassex in the FA Vars.

22:33It'll be nice to see a good crowd down there tomorrow.

22:36And on Monday, as Matt Powell has unashamedly trodden on my patch and gone for Chisholm,

22:44I'm going to tread on his, and I'm going to go for Dover against Horsham,

22:49which I think is a really interesting game, the Isby and Premier. Dover, a lot of people expect

22:54them to do well. They've only won one of their first three, but scored 11 goals because they

22:59scored eight at Potter's Bar in the first day. So, I think away to Dover is a really good test

23:05of where Horsham are going to be and how strong they're going to be this season. Probably be

23:09happy to come away from there with a point, I would think. But if you can go to Dover and win

23:15early season, good sort of good marker of where you're going to be this season.

23:19So, should be a very great game. Yes, well, thank you both chaps for joining me this week.

23:26And don't forget, sussexworld.co.uk forwards dashboard and our newspapers are the best place

23:30to get your Sussex non-league coverage. Thank you very much for listening and watching and

23:35we will see you in two weeks time. Thank you very much.

Sussex Non-League podcast - episode 6 | FA Cup, Trophy and Vase draws

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