All the way to Wembley - The Story of Glossop North End's Vase Run (Part One)

As part of the 125 years celebration, many people have been writing articles on the club. I was asked to do the FA Vase run in 2008-09, but it can't go in the Glossop Chronicle's 'Yesterdays' section, as it's not long ago enough. So it's going in the programme in four parts. Part one was in tonights programme, and here it is...

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Part One – The early rounds.

Prior to 2008-09, to Glossop North End the FA Vase was a competition to win two or three games and a few crucial pounds in prize money. As such, there was no indication of things to come as Steve Young’s Glossop North End team made their first appearance in that season’s renewal, in the 1st Preliminary round, taking on Midlands teams Sporting Khalsa.

The game attracted some interest from The FA’s press department, as Khalsa were an all Asian team; the first Asian side to own their own ground. However, they did play 2 levels lower than North End, and the home side were expected to win easily.

When Khalsa had their goalkeeper sent off in the first ten minutes, it looked a more difficult task for the visitors, and so it proved, with goals from Jay Gorton, Dave Hodges, Rick Bailey, Jamie Kay and Martin Parker sealing a 5-0 win, but bizarrely the crowd went away slightly disappointed – North End could have scored three times as many goals.

The highlight of the afternoon was the Khalsa keeper walking around the ground during the game, apologising for arguing with the referee when he was dismissed. A first for football at any level, I’d wager.

The reward was a trip to Nottinghamshire club Calverton Miners Welfare. Around 40 loyal Glossop fans made the trip and were rewarded twice. Firstly when Rick Whelan, Bailey, Sam Hind and Hodges scored to seal a 4-1 victory, with only a late consolation blotting the copybook. The second reward was that they knew who they would be facing in the next round…a tasty tie against local rivals New Mills in the first round proper.

To many fans of the Hillmen and the Millers this was their cup final. The draw had been made in July, so both teams knew the derby clash was a possibility, and as the straightforward wins for both sides were ticked off, anticipation increased. Duly, on game day, an impressive 490 people turned up to Church Lane and local radio carried live commentary from the match.

Glossop started confidently, and broke through on 22 minutes when Darren Hamilton scored at the near post. But 8 minutes later New Mills levelled when a Meakin free kick deflected into the path of Glossop lad, Josh Howard, and he scored.

After half time though, Glossop were irresistible. Although the breakthrough didn’t come until the 71st minute, they had bossed the match and it was no surprise when Tom Bailey finally scored. Nick Allen and Hind scored further goals to make it a dream day for North End fans and to secure a place in round two.

So far it was three games, thirteen goals and three rounds negotiated. The club was rightly feeling confident as progress had been serene thus far. But no-one could have anticipated the happiness, sadness and drama to come.

Next part – Home draws help the Hillmen, but as the competition goes national, there is long journey and a stern test for Steve Young’s team.