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Saturday 22nd August 2026
Emirates FA Cup Preliminary Round
Andover New Street 2 (Erdinc 14, 52)
Shaftesbury 1 (Baker 7)
‘Swifts’ exit for the ‘Rockies ‘
By Avril Lancaster
Former Shaftesbury striker Greg Peel proved a handful on Saturday in the FA Cup and is marshalled by Jim Ward.
Two goals from Ollie Erdinc sent Shaftesbury crashing out of the Emirates FA Cup to Wessex League Premier Division Andover New Street at Foxcotte Park after Harry Baker had broke clear to give Josh Staunton’s side the lead after seven minutes.
The ‘Swifts’ levelled after pressure from Peel and Claudio Herbert saw Rhomey Ashby Hammond parry the ball away only for Erdinc to hammer home the rebound into the net with fourteen minutes played.
Erdinc scored what turned out to be the winner in the 52nd minute with an absolute piledriver from outside the box to put Jamie Coleman’s side ahead. Ashby Hammond made a point blank save to prevent the scoreline from being out of sight from Malachi Dotse seemingly as a cluster of players piled into the six yard box.
Dawid Regula and Harry Baker both had efforts clear the bar as the game drew to a close with substitutes Tom Hewlett and Cameron Murray creating chances.
The ‘Rockies ‘ missed influential midfielder Alefe Santos DAbadia though the home side were tenacious with former players George Bennett and George Higgins solid in protecting Luke Cairney’s goal.
Shaftesbury travel to AFC Stoneham in the Isuzu FA Trophy 1st Qualifying Round next Saturday to face another difficult tie against the Isthmian League Division 1 South Central side who face a midweek FA Cup replay at Badshot Lea after a 3-3 draw at the Stoneham Sports Complex.
Andover New Street- Cairney, Beckley, King, Thatcher, Higgins, Bennett (C) (Bell 83), Hine (Rawkins 74), Erdinc, Peel, Herbert, Dotse (Jeffrey 74)
Shaftesbury- Ashby Hammond, Ward, Watts (Jarvis 64), Pike, Rayfield (C), Hoey (Murray 58), Hughes (Almedia 64), Regula, Sweeten (Hewlett 58), Baker, Morgan
Attendance- 203
Match Officials- Freddie Fraser, Daniel Roach, Shaun Ward
🟨 Bookings – Regula (78), Hine (26)
Photo – Avril Lancaster
🌟 Star Man- For us it has to be Harry Baker who scored his 3rd goal of the campaign and worked tirelessly to try and create openings against a well set up home side.
Sonny Pike will be a key player once again after a successful debut season for the ‘Rockies ‘ last season.
Photo – Behind The Fence Photography.
‘Moneys’ won the game and very much like Shaftesbury they are a team that finished in the top positions (4th) in their Step 4 Isthmian League South Central campaign last season making the play offs.
Indeed the ‘Rockies’ were promoted as play off winners in the 2024/26 season when the South Coast side were crowned Wessex League Premier Division Champions. Staunton and assistant Steve Rutter will have looked at this game to see what the options were against a team of equal standing. It’s the nature of the business.
Moneyfields themselves did just this by engaging themselves in a 0-3 home defeat to National League South side AFC Totton, before victory over Southern Combination Division 1 side Infinity in the week. Staunton is moving the gears in much the same fashion as the side prepare to take on last seasons Wessex Premier League Division play off finalists Laverstock & Ford next Friday night.
The ‘Bulldogs’ defeated a Winchester City side (moved across to the Pitching In Isthmian League South Central) in the week, and despite a penalty shoot out defeat to Portland United in that game, they will have a side that last season took the ‘Rockies ‘ opening day opponents Bishops Cleeve to a replay in the Emirates FA Cup. They are capable of matching and defeating any Step 4 side especially on their own patch.
Staunton is not looking at results in pre season friendlies. Like any quality manager it is about conditioning and preparation, gametime and minutes. The games are almost like workshops and really not a fan watch as such. A chance to see who is going to be in contention for when the season starts for real.
The former Yeovil Town defender will ramp things up more when Wimborne Town and Chippenham Town conclude the programme later this month to then face a Bishops Cleeve side in the opening Pitching In Southern League Division 1 (South) fixture who recently signed Jamal Lawerence from Melksham Town and defeated Hereford FC 2-0 in the week.
The house that Jim built. Milligan pensive before the big game vs Frome Town.
Photo – BTR Media.
It was as you were in both camps as the second half began. It would be Greaves side that grasped the nettle first when Albie Hopkins got past our defence and did well to stay on his feet to shot fire past Taylor to put Frome Town into the lead after 51 minutes. George Dowling planted in the third going into the final quarter of the game and it looked like goodnight Vienna for us.
With Tom Hewlett and George Higgins on as substitutes we went at it.Milligan knew it was stick or twist time. We gambled to go at it and it paid off.
Holmes got inside the Frome defence to turn in his first getting past the Frome Town defence and clip the ball past Philips into the corner with ten minutes left. Game on and the Cockrams ground lit up.
Then in the 83rd minute Sonny Pike delivered a peach of a ball as two ‘Robins ‘ collided with each other and found Brown who put it on a plate for Holmes who put the chance away. 3-3! Could we win it?
Holmes is top of our scoring charts now with 18 goals and has really been on fire. With six minutes added on a downward header from Harvey Bradbury missed by inches which really would have been something. Still a point with ten men against quality opposition shows how far our club has travelled in recent years.
Shaftesbury- Taylor, Rayfield, Whisken, Pike, Burden (C), Brown, Ward (Hewlett 66), Mundy (Higgins 70), Holmes, Bradbury, Morgan
Frome Town- Philips, Lucas, Heal (Bullock 77), Teale, Dowling, Ferris, Drew (Holmes 55), Hopkins, Maidment, Feltham (Brabham 86), Dodimead (Duru 76)
Sent off – Rayfield (26),Booked – Bradbury (88), Pike (50), Hopkins (87)
Officials – A.Dunn, S.Wright, D.Bachelor
Attendance- 523
🌟 Star Man- Toby Holmes
🌟 Frome Town- George Dowling
Crediting Ben Chandler Photography 📸
Trungle Park- Mousehole AFC have risen from the Cornwall Combination League to pushing for a place in the Pitching In Southern League Premier Division South.
Mousehole AFC- Chenowith, Lewis (Konte 9), Barratt (Keverne 89), Ward, Turner, Calver, Nixon (Derham 78), Symons, Bernard (Ranalli Sousa 86), Fresenda, Massey (Sullivan 78)
Shaftesbury- Murphy, McKeown, Beard, Cocklin (McCann 68), Nixon (Wright 19), Davidson, Rogers (Thomas Young 72), Santos DAbadia (Satterley 64), Burbidge, Hoey (Almedia 86), Holmes
Officials – N.D’Arcy, D.England, C.Hancock
Booked – Beard 31, Satterley 79, Milligan (Technical Area) 45+3. Sullivan 90+4
Attendance- 199
🌟 Star Man – Toby Holmes. Worked hard all game and even though this was a game against a good side that finished well and are very good team you could see Holmes Southern League experience will help the team in the up coming games.
See highlights of this game – Way Out West (YouTube) and also featured on https://youtube.com/@footballtravel-k4s?si=6_-wa1sUQKlNR4l9
Pitching In Southern League South results-Bemerton Heath Harlequins 1 Exmouth Town 0, Bideford AFC 1 Yate Town 1, Bishops Cleeve 3 Didcot Town 0, Bristol Manor Farm 0 Tavistock AFC 3, Cinderford Town 2 Thatcham Town 2, Evesham United 2 Cribbs 0, Helston Athletic 1 Larkhall Athletic 1, Malvern Town 5 Bashley 2, Melksham Town 3 Willand Rovers 0, Mousehole AFC 5 Shaftesbury ,Westbury United 2 Falmouth Town 1
Photos- Avril Lancaster, Tim Lancaster (Tim’s Ground Travels)
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