DEFEAT IS A NEW EXPERIENCE FOR Southall this season, the West London club apparently unstoppable in their seven Combined Counties league and FA Cup encounters to date. Seven victories from seven outings in which goals have flowed with seeming ease — 17 in the past three matches — gave Southall belief that this could be their year for a run in the FA Vase, but with their recent history in the competition they should have known better.

On a grey and overcast afternoon at The Warren they found Wroxham a far tougher prospect, the Ridgeons Eastern Counties league side were rarely troubled after taking an early lead, until a late onslaught from the home side threatened to take the tie to a replay.

It is 20 years since Southall graced the famous Wembley turf in the FA Vase final, losing on that sunny May afternoon 3-0 to Halesowen Town, and in the years since then only twice have they managed to win a FA Vase tie. Victories against Eaton Borough in 1992 and Chalfont St Peter in 2000 are all they have to show for 20 years of toil.

The writing was on the wall as early as the fourth minute when John Edridge sent Steve Johnson clear, the forward giving Jason Hartles no chance with a left-foot drive from 20 yards. Jerry Moses briefly gave the home side hope early in the second half, shooting high into the net after Robert Woodcock could only parry Craig Worrell’s close-range effort.

That hard-won parity lasted just four minutes when Wroxham were gifted the lead, Steve MacKenzie needlessly hauling back Johnson in the penalty area. Shaun Howes made no mistake from the penalty spot.

With Southall pressing for an equaliser, gaps were beginning to appear at the back and it was no surprise when midway through the half Ellington Tjirimuje increased the visiting team’s lead, on hand when Hartles spilled Gary Gilmore’s powerful drive.

Southall managed to pull a goal back in the game’s dying moments, Donal O’Sullivan’s smart turn and volley from the edge of the box leaving Woodcock grasping at air, but it was too little too late to end the FA Vase hoodoo.

“Having played so well so far this season it was disappointing to lose today,” Frank Gill, the Southall manager, said. “We had three players out and had to mix it around a bit but we still had enough quality out there to have done better. We had plenty of chances but failed to capitalise, whereas Wroxham scored with three of their four attempts on goal.”

Southall have led a nomadic life since their original home at Weston Road was sold to a housing developer by the former chairman, Jim Loftus, 14 years ago. The new home promised by the local authority never materialised and since that time the club have plied their trade first in the Rymans League and since the turn of the century in the Combined Counties league at a variety of homes. Their latest, at The Warren, the home of Yeading, is their fifth base — Harefield United, Tring Town, Chalfont St Peter and Chesham United being their other temporary abodes.

Bulywant Singh Gill, who has been chairman of Southall for the past four seasons, is determined that the club will soon have their own home back in Southall, but is facing a tough battle convincing Ealing Borough Council that a football club is vital to a thriving community. “Southall will get its own ground soon,” Singh Gill said. “For the past four years I have been very determined to get something done. I have had hurdles put in my way but I am looking at the possibility of having a ground within the next couple of years. Hopefully, with the council’s help we will have to achieve our goals on our own.

“All this work is for the community as a whole. I am not just concentrating on the football club, I intend to involve the wider range of the community. I have had offers from different groups of people who are involved in other sports in the area and there’s no reason that we cannot work together.”

Success in the FA Vase might have eluded Southall for another season but for Frank Gill it means that he can concentrate on the chief aim of promotion back to the Ryman League, a distinct possibility given their early-season form. Promotion and a return to their own home in Southall would make 2006 a year to remember for this community club in West London.

MARK VENABLES Southall (4-5-1): J Hartles — E Dussard, S MacKenzie (sub: M Rufus, 85min), R DaCosta, L Dussard — G Worrell (sub: F Dixon, 74), S O’Sullivan, G Moses, A Robinson, L Fisher — D O’Sullivan. Substitutes not used: J Edwards, S Sallis, R O’Hene. Booked: Moses, Fisher

Wroxham (4-4-2): R Woodcock — G Pauling, M Magee, J Carus, S Howes — E Tjirimuje (sub: B Carver, 85), M Eves, J Edridge, G Gilmore — S Johnson, L Gilman. Substitutes not used: N Dugdale, M Davids, J Furlong, D Hilton. Booked: Gilman

Referee: M Wilson

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