EUXTON VILLA PREVIEW
The Rams take a short break from league action and focus on dreams of the Wembley arch as the FA Vase kicks into view with a repeat of a game from last year, against Division One North high-flyers Euxton Villa.
MATCH: Ramsbottom United vs Euxton Villa
VENUE: Harry Williams Riverside Stadium, Ramsbottom, BL0 0BS
COMPETITION: The Isuzu FA Vase Round 1
DATE: Saturday 19th October 2024
KICK-OFF: 3:00pm
ADMISSION: Adults – £9, Concessions – £5, U12 – £1 (with paying adult) – CASH ONLY
OVERVIEW:
The Isuzu FA Vase – a competition the Rams did well in last season and, up pops match number 6 of the 103 to be played this weekend and it’s a repeat.
Chorley-based Euxton Villa are the visitors, as they were back on 23rd September 2023 in the second qualifying round last season and they put up stiff opposition despite going down 3-0 to Matthew Dudley’s early strike which was added to by Henri Ogunby and Martyn Jackson (pictured above) either side of half time.
Euxton, managed by a man very familiar to Rammy boss Steve Wilkes in Matt Atherton, “who I gave his break in non-league football, so we do keep in touch,” will come to the HWRS full of confidence as they sit in sixth place in the division and fresh off a 1-0 re-arranged Macron Cup win over Bacup Borough on Tuesday night which extends their recent record to five wins from their last six.
But they will be coming up a Rammy side in red hot form and on a 10-match unbeaten run with only two of those being draws at home to Bury and away at Barnoldswick Town. They had to battle hard against a good AFC Liverpool side on Tuesday night before finally getting through 2-1 to open up a five point lead at the summit of the NWCFL Premier Division but the manager knows that this game will be tough but it is a competition that he really does enjoy.
“I love this competition,” he said. ” I have got to the semi-finals as a player and as a manager and I’d love to go that one step further but, of course, there is a long way to go.
“I know Matt really well and he will have them playing. We did beat them here 3-0 last season but that was a tough game and so will this be. They will call this a ‘no hit’ game, they will come here and they are probably not expected to win but they will give us a game and we will have to be on our mettle.”
And whilst this is the first of a run of ‘just Saturday’ games, with there being a break from the Saturday-Tuesday-Saturday madness that has blitzed the season so far since the end of July, he admits that there will be no let up as this is a competition he wants to succeed in and he wants the winning run to continue.
We are just eight wins away from Wembley… fancy a trip south in mid-May!
