13/11/99: FA Carlsberg Vase 2^nd Round

Great Wakering Rovers 2 Tring Town 0

Tring bowed out of the FA Vase at the Second Round stage after a disappointing performance at Division Three league leaders Great Wakering Rovers.

Tring started brightly enough, and a couple of early short corner routines had the home side worried, but to no avail. Wakering took the lead on 15 minutes through a somewhat fortuitous goal. Paul Flack was the unwitting recipient of a mishit shot from outside the area, and with the centre of the Tring defence having gone missing, Flack had time and space to slot the ball past Keith McLoughlin.

Neither side was playing to anything like their potential, and although McLoughlin was the busier of the two goalkeepers, neither had any serious save to make for the remainder of the half.

The uneventful nature of the game continued in the second half, but the Essex side took a crucial two-goal lead on 62 minutes. Mark Hampshire received the ball and hit a shot which McLoughlin got a hand to, but couldn't stop, and Neal Bartlett's last ditch attempt to clear the ball off the line could not prevent it entering the net.

Tring should have got back into the game on 71 minutes, when Matt Rawdon finally beat Wakering's offside trap. Rawdon sprinted clear, but his eventual shot was wide of the mark. Three minutes later Tring had another promising attack, but Scott Walters shot over the bar after an interchange between himself and Rawdon. With that, Tring's last chance was gone as the game petered out to a dreary conclusion.

Team: McLoughlin, Bartlett, Simpson, Bateman, Aldridge, Dale (Underwood), Boad (Gerrard), McKane, Rawdon, Walters, Turner.