There will be no Wembley visits for the Football in Berkshire team this year following Slough Town’s defeat in the FA Trophy, but it got us wondering whether there was an FA Vase bandwagon we could jump on.
The good news is, that thanks to the Cherry Red Records Combined Counties League, we can all get behind Southall following the Stanwell based sides penalty shoot-out win over Clevedon Town in the FA Vase Fourth Round – the club’s third shootout win in a row after beating Guildford City and Chatham Town.
Talk about omens!
The last Combined Counties League side standing
Southall were joined in the Fourth Round by Egham Town (lost 2-1 to Buckland Athletic), Raynes Park Vale (lost 2-1 to Stansfeld) and London Lions (lost 6-0 to Coventry Sphinx) but are now the last Combined Counties League side standing.
The Premier Division North high-flyers started in the Second Qualifying Round with a 5-1 win over Division rivals CB Hounslow United and went on to beat Erith & Belvedere 3-0 at home before drawing 2-2 with Chatham, 0-0 with Guildford and 1-1 with Clevedon.
Wikipedia has Southall listed as one of the country’s oldest football clubs – 1871, the same year as Reading FC – and the club have played in the FA Cup, FA Amateur Cup, one season in the FA Trophy and predominantly the FA Vase.
Southall FC promotion chances?
As well as being the sole remaining CCL side in the Vase, the club are battling at the top of the Premier Division North for one of two possible promotion spots. At the end of the 2021/22 season the champions will automatically be promoted while the runners up will face an away ‘play-off’ tie against a third or fourth bottom step 4 side.
Currently, it’d take a brave person to bet against Hanworth Villa being crowned champions in the Premier Division North, Villa are on 57 points from 21 games and are yet to be beaten.
Because of the Vase run, Southall in fourth, have four games in hand which – were they to win all four, would put them in second place, they currently trail North Greenford United and Abbey Rangers.
What’s next?
Next up for Southall in the FA Vase, it’s a home tie against Stansfeld of the Southern Counties East Football League Division One in the last 16 on Saturday 12th February.
