Doc and the Bay

It was the sub-zero temperatures in Bournemouth that did for me. Yesterday’s FA Vase Final at Wembley was my first match for a fortnight following a chest infection which required a course of antibiotics and the last rites from several priests.

The Vase is nothing like the old Amateur Cup which it effectively replaced in 1974, but its fascination has a lot to do with really modest teams being able to make it through to a Wembley Final and taking most of the town with them.

I got off the tube at Wembley Park around 1.45 and there were only a handful of people on the platform. I suspect it’s going to be a little different on Saturday. I sat with the Whitley Bay fans in their yellow replica shirts and we saw a very quick goal for the Bay.

Paul Chow nudged the ball past the advancing Scott Howie and the ball was in the Wroxham net after just 21 seconds. That made it the fastest goal at the new Wembley, eclipsing Louis Saha’s 25-second strike in last season’s FA Cup Final, but it wasn’t quite the fastest ever at the world-famous stadium. Maurice Cox of Cambridge University scored after 20 seconds of the 1979 Varsity Match.

Bay were 2-1 up at the break yesterday but the half ended with two Wroxham players flat out in the box after a clash of heads. One of them was the centre-forward who had netted their 12th-minute equaliser and held the ball up well throughout the half. His bloodied head bandaged, he was less effective in the second period and Bay won 6-1.

The chap directly in front of me spent most of that half blowing up a huge, almost life-size inflatable cow. I couldn’t quite see the relevance.

Bay are the second club in history to lift The Vase three times, the first for eleven years to retain it, the highest scorers in a Final and have now won The Final by the biggest margin. I saw Wroxham play at Royston in the Fifth Round in February and wasn’t expecting them to get to Wembley.

I’ll try to do a couple of matches during the week before The FA Cup Final and the Conference Play-Off Final at the weekend. Those will take me up to 175 for the season.