West Wight Reserves and Sandown & Lake Reserves have battled their way through to the semi-finals of the Hampshire Vase.
West Wight Reserves face AFC Solent Saturday of Southampton Division 2 at Camp Road; Sandown & Lake Reserves travel to Hampton FC from Southampton Division 1.
Sandown & Lake Reserves had a bye in the 1st round, a walkover win in the 2nd, a 2-1 victory over Bembridge Reserves in the 3rd, before beating Brading Town Reserves 4-1 in the 4th round. Sandown then went on to overcome Emsworth Town 3-2 in the Quarter Final.
West Wight Reserves beat Niton on penalties in the 1st round, their own ‘A’ side 2-0 in the 2nd, North Warnborough (on penalties) in the 3rd, before overcoming Sarisbury Sparks 1-4 in the 4th round. The Freshwater-based side then defeated Bournemouth Electric 2-1 to reach the semi final stage of the competition.
It would fantastic to see a healthy crowd at Camp Road to cheer on the reserves in their attempt to reach a historic Hampshire Cup final.
In the Wessex Premier, 12th-placed Cowes Sports take on the side above – Sherborne Town – at the Zilch Waste Stadium (Westwood Park).
The Yachtsmen have been unlucky over recent games, drawing 3-3 at Downton after taking a 2-goal lead and losing 3-2 at Baffins Milton Rovers – again after being 1-2 ahead in the 2nd half.
Can Cowes’ luck change for the better today?
Co-manager Ian Potts says:
“We are looking forward to the visit of Sherborne, who are a good team and are doing well in the league and have a lot of games in hand. They only came into our league last season and have adapted very well.
“We are looking forward to being at home for the first time in 5 games and – after recent decent performances and results – hoping to carry on and keep trying to improve and move up the table.
“We are in the Gold Cup final and can still finish in a good league position, so we are all positive and have plenty still to play for, but also know we got to work hard to achieve this.”
In Wessex Division 1, 7th-placed Newport travel to bottom club Verwood Town.
Port have been in poor form recently, having suffered 3 successive defeats since beating Amesbury Town on 8th February. The County Town club remain 1 place below the playoff places (5th-placed Hamworthy United cannot be promoted this season).
However, with a 6-point gap between Newport and Fleetlands, with the latter side having 3 games in hand, a playoff place for Port appears increasingly fanciful.
The 2 sides have locked horns twice earlier in the season, with the Potters coming away with a 0-1 win at Beatrice Avenue in the FA Vase before being beaten 3-0 by Port in the league.
Co-manager Joe Butcher says:
“It’s another tough place to go. But we want to get the 3 points.
“I thought there were a lot of positives to take from last week’s game against Fleetlands; we created a lot of chances and were unlucky not to take something from the game.”
Also in Wessex Division 1, 4th-placed East Cowes Victoria travel to 10th-placed Cove.
Vics have had a difficult February, having only won once in 5 games (against Newport in the Gold Cup semi-final) since beating Aldermaston 4-2 4 weeks ago.
The Beatrice Avenue side appear assured of a playoff place, being 12 points above 7th-placed Newport; however, the 14 point gap between Vics and New Milton Town suggests automatic promotion to the Wessex Premier to be out of their reach despite still having 3 games in hand on the league leaders.
Wessex Division 1 table (top 10) below:
Wessex League fixtures for Saturday 1st March
Wessex Premier
Cowes Sports v Verwood Town
Division 1
Cove v East Cowes Victoria
Verwood Town v Newport IW
Isle of Wight fixtures for Saturday 1st March
Hampshire Vase
Hamilton FC v Sandown & Lake Reserves
West Wight Reserves v AFC Solent
Memorial Cup
Bembridge v W&B Sports
Brading Town v Binstead & COB
Vectis v Cowes Sports Reserves
East Cowes Sports v High Park
Harwoods Division 1
Northwood SJ v Shanklin
Division 2
Niton Community v Newchurch
Ryde Saints v Oakfield
Combination 1
Binstead & COB Reserves v Bembridge Reserves
High Park Reserves v Shanklin Reserves
W & B Sports Reserves v Ventnor Reserves
Combination 2
Bembridge A v Vectis Reserves
High Park A v Ryde Saints Reserves
Newchurch Reserves v Ventnor A
Oakfield Reserves v Niton Community Reserves
