Larks march on!

STOP PRESS! We have drawn fellow Southern league side AFC Totton in the Third Round at home on 18th December.

The Larks booked their spot in the draw for the Third Round of the FA Trophy with a fine team performance down in Dorset. We had never had much luck at the Cuthbury in the days when Wimborne Town were in the same division as us, but perhaps the new venue swung the balance.

On a day notable for a fierce driving wind and a tricky pitch, Ollie Price’s new look squad managed to put together an impressive win. The first half was rather scrappy due to the prevailing conditions although the Larks started strongly. Dan Demkiv, Aysa Corrick and Mike Baker all had a go at testing Magpies’ keeper Alex Cull, the latter with an excellent free kick from distance. At the other end, Shaun Semmens had to make a balletic full-length save to deny midfielder Harry Morgan. 0-0 at half time.

The game went up a level in the second half. Wimborne may have thought that having the wind in their favour would benefit them but the visitors had other ideas. The Larks looked composed and well-organised, and started putting together some really good moves. As we put pressure on the home side Mike Baker had two chances to break the deadlock and it was clear that a breakthrough goal was finally coming.

Alex Lambert on the wing was causing the Magpies’ defence all sorts of problems with his pace and skill, and Aysa Corrick in the middle of our forward line was doing a sterling job holding the ball up. But the first goal came from midfielder Matt Britton. As the Larks surged forward, Ginge reacted quickly to a cross from Alex and headed down past Cull.

Now we were on a roll, and Alex’s hard work paid off only moments later with a great bit of skill: Aysa looked to be in a good position to shoot but instead passed to Alex on the right, who cut in beautifully to fire home into the far corner. 2-0!

With a two goal advantage the Larks took their foot off the gas slightly, and despite being a man down Wimborne kept battling. This finally paid off with a goal by Joe Freak but by then it was too late and a minute later the final whistle went to scenes of jubilation from the Larks players and supporters.

It was no easy task to select the man of the match when everyone paid their part in the win, but we went for Jack Camm who worked tirelessly to dispossess Wimborne at every opportunity.

So we are in the hat for the Third Round, which will be played on 18th December. The draw is tomorrow (Monday) at 1pm and the National League Premier Division enter at this stage – watch this space.

Up the Larks!

Photo gallery by Steve Harris here.

Assistant manager Tom Warren was interviewed by Owen Houlihan of Radio Bath after the game and you can listen to what Tom had to say here.