Sidley crack Vase test

Superior finishing was the main reason why Sidley United progressed into the second round of the national competition on Saturday.

Shoreham fashioned 10 shots at goal to Sidley's seven, but The Blues made their efforts count and in the end comfortably booked a home tie against Kent League outfit Erith Town on November 19.

"It's two things," said manager Liam Barham. "I've always said I wanted to get a good run in the Vase and we've progressed to the next round; and secondly it's halted our run of four defeats, which is probably more pleasing to be fair.

"I did think we were full value for the win. I felt we went down to their level first half and I said if we up the pace by 10 per cent second half and take a bit more care with the ball, we will go on and win the game. Second half we kept the ball a bit better, got balls in from wide areas and looked quite dangerous. They put a fair bit of pressure on us, but we dealt with it quite comfortably and I don't think 3-0 flattered us."

The turning point in a generally tight game was when Sidley opened the scoring less than two minutes into the second period. Steve Morris' left-foot shot on the turn was touched aside by Shoreham goalkeeper Ronan Callaghan, but Peter Baker mopped up the scraps.

Sidley then seemed content to protect their lead and pick their opponents off on the break, a tactic they executed superbly, although Darren Annis, James Davis and Shaheen Sadough all enjoyed reasonably decent sights of goal for the Brighton-based club.

Shoreham, an incredibly big side, played with three up-front during the final quarter, but they rather resorted to long balls forward which the back four of United competently negated.

And they made the tie safe courtesy of two well-worked goals. Baker made it 2-0 with a sumptuous 75th minute volley after Morris had flicked on Jordan Wood's cross from deep and Keith Miles added the third goal in the seventh minute of stoppage time following a tidy interchange between Baker and Jimmy Watson.