Resurgent Southall Storm into Round 3!

Camberley Town (0) 0 Southall (0) 4

Southall's impressive recent form continued on Saturday as Paul Palmer's men thrashed last year's quarter finalists Camberley Town in front of the Surrey club's own fans in their Buildbase FA Vase Second Round Proper tie.

Southall, coming off the back of five straight league wins, but rated by the bookmakers at only 7/2 to win this tie, began brightly, kicking down the Krooner Park slope. Centre forward Wayne Harvey was a constant thorn in Camberley's side, and was receiving plenty of service. Camberley keeper Stuart Norman was repeatedly pressed into action, but to Southall's frustration proved to be more than equal to the task. At the other end, Michael Power-Simpson had much less to do, but pulled off a remarkable save from almost point blank range, with the ball appearing to stick to his outstretched left glove like a tennis ball to Velcro.

Towards the end of the half, Camberley began to come into the game more, and will have gone in at half time relieved not to be behind, but confident of being able to boss things in the second half.

It turned out that any hopes they might have had in that direction were quickly dashed. Southall resumed explosively, with the Camberley defence and the excellent Norman caving in following a period of intense pressure to a breathtaking 50th minute strike from an acute angle by Jack Bennett following a lovely move down the left. Sitting on their lead never seemed to cross the visitors' minds, either. Southall were making superb use of both flanks, and it was no surprise when they added a second, this time from Corey Stewart (68), who was as dominant on the right as Bennett was on the left. Camberley's supporters could only watch in stunned silence as further strikes from the superb Bennett (75) and Wayne Harvey (80) put the icing on Southall's cake.

31 years have elapsed since Southall last reached this stage of the competition, and that happened during the famous run that took the club all the way to the final at Wembley. Thirty years of hurt is something Southall fans have experienced probably more than those of just about any other club, but if performances anything like this can continue, the Spartan South Midlands League Division 1 club's long and often slow haul back from obscurity and near extinction will accelerate and pass yet more milestones in the weeks and months to come.

Match report by Harvey Brant – Southall Supporter

16 November 2016