FAWLEY AFC (Waterside Sports & Social Club)

FA CUP EXTRA PRELIMINARY ROUND, FAWLEY AFC 0-3 AFC PORTCHESTER, ATTENDANCE: 72

After a tremendous evening sampling the delights Salisbury had to offer, I made my way down the A36 and A326 to Holbury, where the Waterside Sports and Social Club is located.

The Waterside is the home of AFC Fawley and that is where I would be completing my Wessex League FA Cup double this weekend. The game was taking place today as the facility is shared with Fawley Cricket Club, and they had a fixture on Saturday so the football game was moved to this afternoon. This was the first ever competitive first team fixture Fawley had played on a Sunday, so it was a small piece of history today.

The ground is enclosed with a seated stand on one side of the ground and a couple of covered stands on the other side of the ground. They look like they were built by members of the football club, which adds character to the ground.

Fawley is famous for the Esso refinery, which is one of the largest in Great Britain. The complex dominates the landscape and you can see the towers from the football ground.

The football club was formed in 1923 as AGWI United and they joined the Hampshire League in 1930. The club changed their name to Esso Fawley in 1949 and competed in the Hampshire league until 2010 when they won promtion to the Wessex League.

By this time the club was now known as Fawley AFC, having changed their name once again in 2002.

This afternoon was an all Wessex Premier League cup tie as Fawley hosted Porchester, who are managed by former Arsenal and England player Graham Rix (pictured right). The sunday fixture brought out a few other groundhoppers and I spent the afternoon in the company of a well known 'hopper from Shropshire.

The game was entertaining enough but Porchester always seemed to be in control. There were plenty of chances but no goals in the opening 45 minutes.

The second half was a different story as goals from Steve Ramsey, Tom Froggatt and Joe Bye ensured Porchester's passage into the next round, where they will be home to Mangotsfield United.

ANDOVER TOWN (The Portway)

FA VASE 1st QUALIFYING ROUND, ANDOVER TOWN 7-2 FAWLEY AFC, ATTENDANCE: 92

I headed south to Hampshire as the FA Vase kicked off today. I opted for a visit to The Portway Stadium, a ground I missed when previous tenants Andover FC played there. The ground was Andover FC's home from it's inauguration in 1989 until 2011, when the club was dissolved.

With no team playing at The Portway, Sparsholt and Andover Colleges took over the lease of the ground and turned it into a site for a sports academy and also established an adult senior football side to provide a vehicle for the academy players to make the step up from youth to Senior football.

As a result, Andover Town was formed in 2013 and accepted into the Wessex Football League Division One. They claimed runners up spot, and promotion, in their first season.

From old pictures I have seen, the Portway Stadium has changed little, apart from the colouring which is now blue instead of red. There is a large stand on a raised bank and it is a very smart ground. The ground is in the middle of an industrial estate about 1.5 miles out of town. Luckily I was given a lift to and from the match, allowing plenty of time for a quick pint in the town.

The game started off at a frenetic pace with two goals in the opening 8 minutes. Fawley took the lead after 3 minutes through a Charlie Willett volley from the edge of the box (pictured left) then 5  minutes later a Bobby Swayne header levelled the tie. Matt Scott (38) headed home from a corner to give the home side the lead before Connor Cocklin (41) scored to give Andover a 3-1 lead at the break.

Swayne (51) scored with another header then Ollie Yates (60) made it 5-1. After 75 minutes, Fawley's Willet netted his second with a superb free kick (pictured right) but any hopes of an unlikely comeback were quickly extinguished when Yates (81) and Sammy Pekun (85) added further goals for Andover.

Andover Town will now travel to Bemerton Heath Harlequins in the next round