FA VASE

Buckland Athletic 2 (3) Callington Town 2 (1)

BUCKLAND Athletic advance to the next stage of the FA Vase thanks to a penalty shootout success in a game that ended with a bang.

The first 70 minutes of football at Homers Heath were pretty uneventful between Buckland and their Cornish visitors, Callington Town FC. All that separated the two was a Kieran Prescott penalty for the away team- the referee pointing to the spot after Reece Shanley tangled with a Cally forward.

A bizarre incident including the linesman then led to a stoppage of more than 45 minutes with both medical teams tending to the official. He received hearty applause from the crowd when he eventually got back to his feet and everyone of course wishes him well.

Such a lengthy break in play could easily have made the game even more attritional but instead, it burst into life.

Just minutes later, having made himself a nuisance to the opposition defence all day, Ryan Bush equalised for Athletic.

Ryan Bush with the ball at his feet
Ryan Bush with the ball at his feet (Jamie Rooke)

Cally retook the lead with a late, late strike though, one of their substitutes sending in a dangerous ball and whilst neither Adam Seedhouse-Evans or Myles James dealt with it, the Callington striker was more than happy to get involved and fire it home.

Even further into the dying embers of this Vase fixture, a trademark delivery from Ben Carter picked out Bush who volleyed home a second leveller of the afternoon. His manager, Dan Hart, spoke of being indebted to Bush after the dust had settled: “He comes up with two goals when we needed him and without him, we aren’t progressing in the FA Vase.”

After this back-and-forth of twists and turns, the two goalkeepers entered the spotlight for the shootout.

Midfield maestro Carter dispatched the winning penalty after Seedhouse-Evans’ heroics and Hart was facing away, unable to watch until this decisive strike, saying “I always back the captain.”

All in all for the Buckland boss: “It was probably one of the worst, most disjointed performances I’ve seen in my tenure but sometimes in cup matches, you have to find ways.”