VCD Athletic 1-0 Epsom & Ewell - It's a massive achievement to reach FA Vase Last Sixteen and we look to go one more and it's nice to still be in cup competitions come February, says promotion chasing VCD Athletic joint-manager Ross Baker

VCD Athletic 1 – 0 Epsom & Ewell
Location	Oakwood, Old Road, Crayford, Kent DA1 4DN
Kickoff	18/01/2025 15:00

VCD ATHLETIC  1-0  EPSOM & EWELL
The Isuzu FA Vase Fourth Round
Saturday 18 January 2025
Stephen McCartney reports from Oakwood

VCD ATHLETIC joint-manager Ross Baker says he will keep his team’s feet grounded on the floor after reaching the FA Vase Fifth Round for the third time in the club’s history.

The Vickers’ were expected to beat Epsom & Ewell to reach the last sixteen of the competition and centre-half Michael Fenn slid in his second goal of the season from a set-piece to seal their progress.

The Crayford-based outfit went into this tie sitting in second-place in the Southern Counties Esat Football League Premier Division table, having picked up 45 points (13 wins, six draws and two defeats).

VCD Athletic got their FA Vase campaign underway with a 4-1 away win at Westside back in August when only SEVEN people watched the First Qualifying Round tie.

Chipstead were then beaten 3-0, before Roffey scored a late leveller to grab a 1-1 draw here in the First Round, before VCD Athletic progressed by winning the penalty shoot-out 5-3.

Arundel were then defeated 2-0 and VCD Athletic were losing 3-0 at home to Windsor & Eton when the game was abandoned after Harry Sargent broke his foot, but they took advantage of their second chance by coming home from Berkshire with a 3-0 win.

Baker was asked to reflect on the abandoned game.

“Sarg(ent) obviously broke his foot out here in the Windsor & Eton game, which everyone seems to think he didn’t – but he did.

“He came back the other week on the treadmill and it was no good, so we expect him back in another couple to three weeks.

“Everyone’s seen the social media stuff about it. At the end of the day, the main priority that day was - let’s take nothing away from Windsor at the first point - we were awful! They were good at what they done. We were 3-0 down at half-time and we said to the boys ‘we’re going to change things around because we needed to.’

“We changed it around and unfortunately for Harry within two minutes of him coming on, he broke his foot.

“Listen, we called an ambulance. We’re not going to leave one of our players lying on the floor. We called an ambulance – they had a doctor here - people were saying the ‘ambulance got cancelled’ and whatever else.

“At the end of the day, the referee done the protocol, we followed the protocol, the game got abandoned and we went over there and had to do what we had to do over there.”

Back to today, Warren Burton’s side, meanwhile, went into this tie sitting in the bottom-three of the Combined Counties League Premier Division table, having picked up 22 points (six wins, four draws and 13 defeats).

The 1975 beaten finalists have beaten Seaford Town (3-2), Berks County (3-1), North Greenford United (2-0) and Burnham (2-1) to reach this stage but lacked the quality needed to pull off an upset at Oakwood today.

“I thought we were in control of the game, I’ll be brutally honest with you,” said Baker, who has never been involved at this stage of the competition before.

“I thought we were a little bit wasteful in front of goal today but that’s football, you’re not going to score four or five goals every week!

“Look, the boys had a job to do today, they’ve stuck to the game plan, done the job and we’re in the next round.”

When asked what his side’s game plan was, Baker replied: “Don’t get beat! Just keep hold of the ball, dictate play really.  The last couple of weeks it’s kind of changed a little bit and we know teams are doing their homework on us now, so we’re having to adapt that little bit quicker to what we have been.

“We said to the boys in there beforehand, ‘just keep hold of the ball, keep moving into the right areas and don’t give away any cheap fouls,’ because they’re good at what they do, Epsom.

“We’ve had them watched a couple of times and they like putting balls in boxes and they’re quite dangerous from them, so it was important that we kept the ball for large periods.”

VCD Athletic were without suspended trio Charlie Heatley, Zak Bryon and the 12-goal attacking threat, Bethel Gboda.

Epsom & Ewell did start the game on the front foot and the home side had a couple of bites of the cherry to clear Niall Stillwell’s throw into the box after 256 seconds and the ball came out to central midfielder Conrad Essilfie-Conduah on the edge of his box and his right-footed half-volley into a crowd of players was heading past the right-hand post and was comfortably gathered by Andy Walker, stepping to his left.

When asked about their opponents’ threats, Baker replied: “I don’t want to be disrespectful to them, but not many, not many but they always looked like if there was a chance to come, they would’ve, they were looking to take it, if that makes sense?

“They wasn’t deadly but at the same time if they were going to hurt us, it was probably going to come from a mistake from us.

“We have been quite – how do you put it? It’s happened a few times, put it that way, through mistakes of our own but we’re trying to cut that out but you’re never going to stop mistakes but that’s football.”

VCD Athletic dominated the corner count nine to four and most were of them were taken by holding midfielder Connor Dymond and played short to winger Francis Babalola.

Dymond took a touch before whipping in a cross from the right channel and 16-goal striker Ollie Freeman’s driven shot was blocked and the ball fell to Fenn, who reached the by-line down the left and his cut back was comfortably gathered by tall goalkeeper Daniel O’Donovan beside the foot of his near post.

Dymond played the ball to left-winger Nathaniel Olawole who cut the ball back to Dymond, who fed central midfielder Kwasi Amoah, who skipped past Epsom & Ewell’s centre-half Nicolas Bostan before stroking his left-footed drive across the keeper and past the far post from 30-yards inside the opening 15 minutes.

However, Walker almost gifted Epsom & Ewell the lead with 19:11 on the clock when his attempted bowl out towards Dymond was intercepted by visiting winger Ethan Nelson-Roberts in the middle and he fed 43-year-old attacker Craig Dundas who lashed his right-footed drive over the crossbar from 22-yards.

“We said to the boys in there, the first 20 minutes and it was the same when we played Glebe the other night (a 2-1 away win in the Challenge Cup on Tuesday), the first 10-15 minutes people come at us like the Alamo, which is fine, that’s football. We try to do the same,” explained Baker.

“We try to weather the storm and then build into the game like a lot of managers do and the first 20 minutes they were probably the better side really. We couldn’t really get out and when we did we had one or two chances that we should really put away.

“But look, at the end of the day, no-one’s going to press no-one for 90 minutes, that’s football.”

Reflecting on Dundas’s big chance, Baker added: “Walks is more than experienced enough, we tried something, it didn’t work, nothing came of it so we move on.”

VCD Athletic scored the winning goal with 22 minutes and 16 seconds on the clock, following their second of 14 free-kicks.

Left-back Tom Carlse – a recent arrival from Isthmian League South East Division strugglers Hythe Town – threw the ball to Babalola, who drew a foul from Bostan and goalkeeper O’Donovan lined up a four-man wall for the free-kick some 30-yards out on the angle.

Dymond put in a right-footed free-kick from the left and O’Donovan’s defence allowed the ball to bounce a couple of times in the corridor of uncertainty and no one had picked up Fenn, who came round the back unmarked to slide his right-footed shot into the bottom far corner from inside the six-yard box.

Baker said: “He’s got round the back. I didn’t see Fenno’s run and I thought that’s gone out of play and then all off a sudden he’s nipped round.

“But listen, we’re getting better at set-pieces, especially last year we were quite a soft touch at defending and attacking set-pieces and we’ve done a lot of work with that.

“We look a little bit more of a threat from set-pieces, which is good, which is good.”

When asked about Carlse’s switch from the Kent coast, Baker replied: “We needed experience and Tom brings that in abundance and he came in on Tuesday night against Glebe and he was very good and again today you could see yourself he was very good, very good at what he does. He’s good in the changing room, good with the boys and I think he’s working out to be a really good signing so far.”

O’Donovan pulled off a brilliant flying save high to his left to prevent Freeman scoring from 25-yards in the 28^th minute.

Fenn hit a long ball out of defence and straight down the middle, the ball was knocked down by Olawole and was hit first time by the former Bearsted number nine, his right-footed drive destined for the top right-hand corner, only for a diving O’Donovan to use a strong left-hand to push the ball over his crossbar.

“We were all on the pitch, we thought it was in,” said Baker.

“Ollie’s come off and said ‘it’s just not working for me’, but Ollie’s in the side for being a centre-forward. He’s scored a lot of goals this year and he’s in a little dry spell with three games without a goal and he’s getting the hump with it, which is nice, he cares he’s not scoring.

“But his overall game play on Tuesday night, he doesn’t stop. He had to occupy three centre-halves at Glebe and he had to occupy two good centre-halves today and he’s done his job today.

“The only thing that was lacking was a goal but he was excellent today for me and Danny (Joy).”

Epsom & Ewell offered very little threat going forward – as VCD Athletic skipper Ben Fitchett put in a dominant performance at right centre-back.

“Look, Ben Fitchett for me is probably one of the best centre-halves at this level, without a shadow of a doubt.  He’s good with both feet, he’s good in the air, he leads out club well and today I thought he done a proper skipper’s job,” added Baker.

Epsom & Ewell captain and holding midfielder Adam Green swung in his side’s first corner which Walker punched away while under pressure at his near-post and the ball came out to six-goal striker William Kendall, who hooked his left-footed shot through a crowd of players and around the far post whilst unmarked 18-yards from goal.

“The thing is Walks is there for those reasons. He’s good, he’s good at what he does. He comes and claims crosses, he’s a calming influence and at the age of 43, we’re still getting the best out of him. He’s been excellent, excellent for us. I can count the mistakes he’s made all season on one hand,” added Baker.

VCD Athletic went route one through Walker’s big kick straight down the middle and Freeman flicked the ball on and the impressive Lee Bird latched onto the ball in space but he rushed his shot, a left-footed half-volley from 25-yards, which was comfortably gathered by O’Donovan, to prevent the ball nestling into the bottom far corner.

“We kept Birdy out the other week against Kennington (a shock 2-1 away defeat two weeks ago) and we said to him afterwards ‘maybe we got that wrong,” admitted Baker.

“Today’s performance showed he’s a real, real energy, a real good footballer that he’s really good at his jobs.”

Dymond, who was pulling all the strings for the home side, played the ball along the pristine playing surface to Olawole, who cut onto his right-foot and his shot was charged down. The ball fell to Bird, whose left-footed shot was charged down by a pressing Bostan and was comfortably gathered by the busier of the two goalkeepers.

VCD Athletic created one more first half chance – following their sixth corner of the game – with the last kick of the half.

Dymond’s poorly taken corner came in from the left and Amoah got in front of his marker at the near-post to poke his first-time shot past the near-upright.

“We said to them in there, ‘just keep doing what we’re doing, keep doing it, keep moving the ball well, keep putting it in areas when we need to and just keep at it, like, don’t take your foot of the gas,” replied Baker, when asked about his half-time prep talk.

“We’ve done it before when we’ve come in after a good half and then we’ve kind of not come out with the same attitude, with the same mentality and we’ve kind of slipped up a couple of times.

“We had a good team meeting in here the other week, just to iron a few things out, air a few concerns from people and ourselves and we’re starting to get the benefits from it.

“We had a little wobble and we’ve come out of it.”

When asked what was discussed, Baker replied: “What the boys want, what we want, what we’re looking for moving forward and this football club works together.  All the boys are in it together, from the boys that don’t get on, the boys that are up on the gantry that are left out, to the management team, we’re all in this 150 per cent.” 

VCD Athletic produced a well-worked move which should have been finished off by Babalola at the near-post, just 184 seconds into a cagey second half.

Olawole played Carlse on the over-lap down the left and the full-back put in a cross from within the channel towards Babalola at the near-post and he flicked the ball up before hooking his left-footed shot on the turn from eight-yards.

Baker has high hopes for his number seven (Olawole).

"Tom’s come in and he’s done really well and Nath, when he’s at it, he’s so quick. If there was a stat for the most fouled player in the league, it would be him because he comes off week-in-week-out with new bruises here, lumps here and at half-time he had ice round his shin when he’s been kicked.

“He’s got a lot of potential and when he realises how good he can be, he will go to the next level – he’s a very good footballer.”

Walker, now 43, and Babalola both played in The FA Vase Final at Wembley Stadium in May 2019, as Kevin Watson’s Cray Valley (Paper Mills) lost 3-1 to Dave Anderson’s Chertsey Town.

“That’s been mentioned once or twice. We’re trying to stop all talk of the Vase.  We’re going to enjoy tonight, the boys are going to enjoy the fact that we’re in the next round but come Tuesday night all focus is on the League and seeing how close we can get to Faversham,” added Baker.

Walker made a comfortable save in the 53^rd minute, following Epsom & Ewell’s penultimate corner.

Green delivered from the left, the ball was cleared out to Kendall, who recycled the ball back into the final third from within the right-channel and Essilfie-Conduah’s deflected right-footed shot from 25-yards was comfortably saved by Walker to his left.

Burton made a tactical switch in the 67^th minute and brought on a couple of substitutes with the eight-goal central striker Carl Oblitey and right-winger Luke Miller coming on for Dundas and Gillfillian-Waul respectively.

Epsom & Ewell switched formation to 4-1-2-2-1 – with Oblitey up front in the middle with Kendall and Essilfie-Conduah behind him in a three-man attack.

Bird drove down the heart of the pitch on a 30-yard run before rolling the ball out to the left to Olawole, who cut inside and his deflected shot flashed past the foot of the near-post as the game entered the final 20 minutes.

The Surrey outfit should have grabbed an equaliser with 26 minutes and 36 seconds on the clock, following their best move of the game.

Fenn took a knock during the build-up, as Miller, Oblitey and Kendall all linked up inside the final third and the ball was slipped in behind the grounded Fenn to play in Essilfie-Conduah, who lacked composure in his big moment, drilling his right-footed shot into the side netting with only Walker to beat.

Baker said: “When you’re only 1-0 up – no disrespect to Epsom – we could’ve been three or four in front. We didn’t take our chances but when you don’t take your chances, you always put that pressure on yourselves that there was a chance, they can always score, always score.

“It didn’t happen today. I thought we were very solid today. There wasn’t a time I thought ‘they’re going to score.’  I just didn’t think that today and I thought the defence done well.

“Walks was excellent. I thought the two boys in front of (our back four) with Kwasi Amoah in there and I thought Connor Dymond was superb today. I thought he was the main man around today – I thought he was exceptional!”

There was concern from Emily Sawyer while holding her medical bag whilst standing beside the touchline on the half-way line as Fenn didn’t seem right following his earlier knock, fouling quiet Epsom & Ewell winger Ali Fofahan and being one of six players to be booked by referee Steven Marr.

Wilson put the free-kick into the box, the ball was cleared from within a crowd of players and Essilfie-Conduah’s hooked angled volley from out on the right was comfortably caught by Walker at his near post.

VCD Athletic should have scored a second goal (41:34) when the seven-goal substitute left-winger Richard Jimoh raced down the wing, easily cut inside Epsom & Ewell’s right-back Stillwell and O’Donovan stood big and tall to make the save as Jimoh went to pieces inside the penalty area in a one-v-one dual.

“I’ve got to be honest when he took off from the halfway line, I think one of the boys said ‘goal’ because when he takes off like that, no one catches him,” said Baker.

“Maybe if that chance comes five minutes later, when he’s more into the game, who knows, it could’ve been 2-0 but he knows he probably should’ve hit it one touch before but at the end of the day he’s come on and he’s played his part and he’s done his job for us and we’re in the next round.”

But VCD Athletic ran out deserved winners and join their Southern Counties East Football League Premier Division rivals Erith & Belvedere and Whitstable Town in the last 16.

Both held their nerve from the penalty spot following 1-1 away draws to White Ensign and Walsham Le Willows respectively and all three Kent sides will have home advantage on Saturday 1 February.

VCD Athletic will play the winner of Sunday’s tie between Gloucestershire-based Hellenic League Premier Division leaders Hartpury University or sixth-placed Wessex League Premier Division outfit Fareham Town.

“I think that’s fantastic for the League, it just shows how strong our League is,” said Baker.

“It’s a massive achievement to have all three club’s through. I’m sure if you spoke to the other guys (Billy Hamlin/Jamie Phipps and Jamie Coyle), they would’ve taken that at eight o’clock this morning.”

“Listen, it’s a massive achievement (for VCD) and we look to go one more. We’re not here to make the numbers up.  Like I say, the boys are buzzing in there. The club’s buzzing for it. It’s nice, it’s nice to still be in Cup competitions come February.”

Baker said there will be VCD Athletic representation at Sunday’s tie in Gloucestershire to see which side will come to Oakwood next month.

“One of us will be over there, one or two of us will be going. You’ve got to do it. You’ve got to go and do your homework on sides, so I know it’s a long old journey so it will be nice for a Sunday afternoon but look if you want to progress you’ve got to do that.

“It’s massive, massive (having a home tie next) especially on a pitch like that. Everyone wants to play at home. No one wants to travel so it’s nice to be at home.

“Our feet are grounded on the floor.  Listen, we know every game in the Vase is a bonus. It’s just until you get there (Wembley), that’s it but every game we get is a bonus and like I said to you, take each game as it comes.”

Domestically, VCD Athletic have slipped down a place in the table after Fisher came away from Kennington with a goal-less draw today, while league leaders Faversham Town came away from Gillingham-based side Hollands & Blair with a 4-0 win.

Faversham Town are most likely to win this ninth-tier division should they win at VCD Athletic next Saturday – a game being covered by this website.

Tommy Warrilow’s side have picked up 53 points from their 22 (of 38) games, and the four-play off places are still held by Fisher (46 points from 25 games), VCD Athletic, Larkfield & New Hythe (38 points from 24 games) and Punjab United (35 points from 22 games).

“We’ve got a big game next week so after tonight, tomorrow, all talk will be all about Faversham,” said Baker, who’s side claimed a 1-1 draw through Freeman’s late strike at Salters Lane in November.

“Look, we just take each game as it comes. We’re not looking too far in front. We look to the next game, we’re not looking at who they’ve got in two weeks and who we’ve got.

“Tonight is all about the Vase, the boys will enjoy themselves about that. As off Monday, Bang. We go to work and see what we can do or can’t do with Faversham.

“I think there’s pressure on both sides. We know Tom. Tom’s going to want to come here and win and we want to win. It’s three points and you’ve just got to go and get them and that’s it.

“It’s lovely to be in the last 16 of The Vase but the next round is in February. Come and chat with us at the end of May and I’ll tell you exactly how my season has been. Until then, each game as it comes.

“Listen, look, at the start (of the season our aims were to be) in and around the play-offs by all means.  At the start of last season, we had to build a side from scratch, which we’ve done. We’ve kept people, added what we felt we needed and we’re reaping the rewards with it and now we’re in a position where we want to go up.

“The club wants to go to Step Four, me and Danny and the boys want to go to Step Four, so ideally that’s the aim.”

VCD Athletic: Andy Walker, Harry Lawrence, Tom Carlse, Connor Dymond, Ben Fitchett, Michael Fenn, Francis Babalola, Kwasi Amoah (George Whitelock 82), Ollie Freeman (Tom Cousins 90), Lee Bird, Nathaniel Olawole (Richard Jimoh 83).
Subs: Connor Kelly, Jimmy Shepherd

Goal: Michael Fenn 23

Booked: Michael Fenn 86, Tom Carlse 90, Ollie Freeman 90

Epsom & Ewell: Daniel O’Donovan, Niall Stillwell, Kionte Gillfillian-Waul (Luke Miller 67), Adam Green, Nicolas Bostan, Callum Wilson, Ethan Nelson-Roberts, Conrad Essilfie-Conduah, William Kendall, Craig Dundas (Carl Oblitey 67), Ali Fofahan.
Subs: Anthony Nazareth, Jack Torbett, Stefan Aiwone

Booked: Kionte Gillfillian-Waul 62, Adam Green 65, Niall Stillwell 81

Attendance: 170
Referee: Mr Steven Marr
Assistants: Mr Toby Carlisle & Mr Tony King
Fourth Official: Mr Callum Dorling