Another spell of wet weather made me think that I’d be best heading to watch football on a 3G surface tonight. Thankfully not too far away at AFC Stoneham, just north of Southampton, there was a Velocity Wessex League Cup Second round fixture between two teams from the Wessex League Premier Division.

Stoneham Lane Complex boasts a modern club house, great car parking and a 3G pitch with floodlighting, as well as a range of 7-a-side pitches, which had a lot of youth football activity as the game started. The main grandstand has seating for 250 at pitchside which was very helpful for a lonely groundhopper, given the downpour at the start of the match.

AFC Stoneham currently lie in tenth place, with fourteen points from just seven games. They have found goals easy to come by in league and cup fixtures this season. Top scorers include Tyrell Sampson (12 goals), Jamie Johnston (11 goals) and Ashley Pope (8 goals). Manager James Phillips would have expected his team to prove their abilities against same league opponents in the Wessex League Cup.

Sherborne Town sit just a place above AFC Stoneham, but have played two games more with 15 points from their nine matches. Goals for Sherborne have been a little harder to come by than their opponents, with Alex Murphy (5 goals), Anthony Herrin (4 goals) and Declan Cornish (3 goals) top scoring. Joint Managers Neil Waddleton and Ben Wood would have been hopeful of the Wessex League Cup providing the best route to silverware for their side, this season.

The early play saw both sides attempting some tentative passing football, as the occasional downpour made the surface extremely slippy.

As early as the 13th minute the home side were ahead, when Tyrell Sampson fired home, after a cross from the right had evaded everyone in the box.

The remainder of the half saw some more conservatIve play with only the occasional chance, although the rain held off. At half time it was AFC Stoneham who went in leading 1-0.

The second half was uneventful, with Sherborne Town going closest when a long range Dev Cornish shot struck the inside of the post. With 80 minutes gone Sherborne Town were finally level, when Anthony Herrin let fly from twenty yards, seeing his shot fly past the keeper and into the net to tie the game at 1-1.

At full- time the scores were still tied at 1-1. The match moved to penalties to decide who progressed into the third round.

So it was the visitors who claimed the victory to progress, keeping a cooler head to win 3-4 on penalties.