Vase weekend brings joy and pain across the Essex Senior League

The FA Vase dominated the week's business in the Essex Senior League, following the draw for the First Round Proper. Romford will host Hadleigh United, having beaten them twice previously in FA Cup ties, in 1995 and 2013. Saffron Walden Town travel to Dereham Town, White Ensign go to Downham Town, Heybridge Swifts host Hoddesdon Town, and West Essex welcome Rayleigh Town, while SOUL Tower Hamlets face Risborough Rangers.

The qualifying ties themselves had been lively affairs. White Ensign needed a stoppage-time winner from Olly Hyams to beat Halstead Town 4-3 in a game both clubs described as an entertaining, end-to-end contest, with Kane Gilbert scoring twice for the Humbugs before Elliot Scott and Hyams turned the tie for the home side. West Essex were altogether more ruthless, beating Brimsdown 6-0 to book their place, while Barking lost 0-2 at home to Hullbridge Sports, who booked their own place in the next round.

For Woodford Town, the Vase carried an extra layer of meaning. Ahead of their tie against Hoddesdon Town, the club published an interview with Angus Hastings and Ollie Sotoyinbo, both of whom played in last season's final at Wembley for their former club Cockfosters. Hastings, who joined Woodford this summer, recalled the run beginning with a penalty shootout win over Whitstable Town in February, while Sotoyinbo described the moment he saw his name in the Wembley starting eleven as the point the occasion truly hit him.

No club had a harder week than Great Wakering Rovers. Already reduced to nine men in a 3-0 league defeat at West Essex, in which Keanu Hill and Thomas Barton were both sent off, Rovers then lost 4-1 at home to Biggleswade United in the FA Vase, with Tommy Reynolds, Liam Smyth's brace and a late Ryan Lewis goal putting the tie beyond them before manager Marcus Bowers grabbed a stoppage-time consolation. The club's own preview acknowledged suspensions and injuries had left the squad short, and with the Vase and FA Cup now gone, attention turns fully to the league and a midweek trip to Dunmow Town in the Essex Senior Cup.

Elsewhere, Clapton Community lost 2-1 away to Heybridge Swifts in the Vase, with Julian Austin named player of the match despite the defeat, and their women's side beat AFC Welwyn 6-3 in the FA Cup thanks to an Emily Link hat-trick before losing at home to an unbeaten Camden Town side in front of 437 spectators.