Corsham Print
Wiltshire Senior League
U18 - Historic Night 
for Chippenham Town 

Action from last night's FA Youth Cup game between Eastleigh and Chippenham Town Picture courtesy of Chippenham Town Academy

As the shutters temporarily came down on the 2020-21 Season, but hopefully only for a month, two games involving sides in the Under 18 Division were brought forward from Thursday to beat the curfew, one a league fixture and one in the FA Youth Cup.

The one league game was at Radstock Town where Melksham Town were the visitors which, by a quirk of fate, had been the last league fixture in the U18 Division in Season 2019-20 before the first lockdown back in March. That night Radstock had edged it by the odd goal in five and, whilst they won again, it was a lot more convincing this time round as Radstock ran out 4-0 winners on the night. A hat-trick from Ben Smith and one from defender Toby Vining with his second of the season did the damage as Radstock picked up their first league win of the season and moved up to fifth place in the table. For Melksham Town that is now three straight defeats after starting the season with three victories and they will be hoping to return to winning ways when the action restarts in December. 

It is Chippenham Town who are the headline makers ahead of "Lockdown 2" as Joe Sharples side made it through to the Second Round Proper of the FA Youth Cup after an extra-time win over Eastleigh. Chippenham were playing in the First Round Proper for the first time in their history and their history making run continues after another night of drama. The first half an hour against Eastleigh saw both sides weighing each other up with limited clear-cut chances being created as both sides defended well against each other. The deadlock was finally broken on 38 minutes by a player who is really enjoying this competition this season. A ball over the top of the Eastleigh defence saw Dan Warre get behind the Eastleigh back line, round the keeper and fire into the net to make it 1-0 to Chippenham and take his personal tally in the competition into double figures with his tenth FA Youth Cup goal in five games. 

Dan Warre who opened the scoring for Chippenham Town in their FA Youth Cup triumph (picture courtesy of Steve Green)

Chippenham then extended their lead a minute before the half time interval. A break down the left saw the ball fall to Dan Warre just outside the six-yard box, his shot was saved by the Eastleigh keeper but the ball fell to Harrison Thomas whose initial shot was blocked on the line by an Eastleigh defender but the ball rebounded to Thomas he made no mistake with his second shot to make it 2-0 at the break. Eastleigh got themselves back into the game on 64 minutes with a stunning strike from the left hand side of the box by Drew Ecott-Young after he ran into the box beating a Chippenham defender before firing in an unstoppable shot into the top far corner of the net. Chippenham restored their two goal advantage on 70 minutes when a defensive clearance from Landon Golding found Chippenham substitute Corey Hurford who with his first touch of the game powered past both Eastleigh centre backs and, as the Eastleigh keeper came running out, a sublime chip from Hurford saw him score within a minute of coming on to make it 3-1 to Chippenham. Chippenham defended well for the next fifteen minutes and with just five minutes remaining must have thought they were safely through to the next round with a two-goal cushion. However, Eastleigh were given a lifeline four minutes from time when a cross from the left somehow found its way to Ewan Haylor at the far post who fired in to make it 3-2. There was still time for more drama with an equaliser deep into injury time for Eastleigh. Again, it came from a ball into the Chippenham box which was not dealt with, this time the ball falling to Lyle Simpson who slotted in to make it 3-3. The referee then blew to indicate the ninety minutes was up with both sides appearing to prepare for a penalty shoot out until the referee indicated that in the FA Youth Cup there was still extra-time before any penalties. Neither side were able to find the net in the first period of extra-time but midway through the second period Chippenham once again went in front, yet again it was substitute Corey Hurford who was the scorer with a fine individual goal. Picking the ball up from a throw-in midway in the opponents half ,Hurford went on mazy run beating four defenders before firing in at the near post to make it 4-3 with what proved to be the winning goal on the night as Chippenham held out for the remaining minutes to secure a historic Second Round place in the most prestigious of Youth competitions. Well done to manager Joe Sharples and his team on this excellent win and run in the FA Youth Cup.

The whole game, including extra-time, can be viewed on Eastleigh’s YouTube channel which can be accessed using the link below:


Chippenham Town will now be home to either Leyton Orient or Woking in the Second Round Proper. The full Second Round draw, which includes some big names in English football such as Sunderland, Portsmouth and Ipswich Town, is shown below:

FA Youth Cup
Second Round Proper

Altrincham v Peterborough United
Basford United v Grimsby Town
Burton Albion or Worcester City v Bugbrooke St Michaels or Mansfield Town
Bury Town or AFC Sudbury v Oxford United or AFC Wimbledon
Cambridge United v Guiseley
Carlisle United v Bradford City
Chelmsford City v Ipswich Town
Chippenham Town v L. Orient or Woking
Dorking Wanderers v Colchester United
Exeter City v Cheltenham Town
Fleetwood Town v Walsall
Gillingham v Charlton Athletic
Hull City v Doncaster Rovers
Metropolitan Police v Swindon Town
Milton Keynes Dons v Eastbourne Borough or K Sports
Morecombe or AFC Fylde v Sunderland
Newport County v Brokenhurst
Oldham Athletic v Lincoln City
Portsmouth v Bromley or Bedfont Sports 
Salford City v Tranmere Rovers or Hyde Utd
Sutton Utd v Bristol Rovers or Camberley T
Wigan Athletic v Irlam or Notts County

Results

Wednesday 4 November 2020


Under 18 Floodlight Division

Radstock Town 4 Melksham Town 0


FA Youth Cup First Round Proper

Eastleigh 3 Chippenham Town 4 (aet)


5 November 2020
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