BEMERTON Heath Harlequins are the last Salisbury side standing in the FA Vase after recording a blockbuster win over Wessex Premier big guns Moneyfields.

Braces from Jack Slade and Scott Joyce helped the Western Way side inflict a 4-3 defeat over Moneyfields to secure their place in the First Round Proper.

Their reward for the win in the seven-goal thriller is a home tie to Wessex Division One side Cowes Sports. The clash will be played on Saturday, November 1, and the winners will receive a £900 cash prize.

In 2013 Bemerton reached the last 16 of the Vase and manager Ian Chalk is hoping to emulate that run this time round.

But Chalk insists some strange refereeing decisions on Saturday made life difficult for his team, with a lengthy 15 minutes of stoppage time being added on.

“We didn't deserve to be pushed that close because we were excellent against the best team in our league.

Salisbury Journal:

“We were put under pressure to hold on at the end by poor refereeing and that's disappointing.

“Fortunately we held on and now look forward to the next round.”

The other two teams hoping to embrace an FA Vase run were Laverstock and Ford and Amesbury Town.

But it wasn’t a day to remember for either of them.

Laverstock and Ford shipped a remarkable eight goals at Winchester City to go crashing out, but manager Robbie Lakeman insisted they had no chance of matching them.

He told the Journal: “As soon as the tie was drawn I disregarded it as in the context of our season it has no relevance at all.

“We are never going to win the FA Vase and being given that draw really made it a non event for us. We have to concentrate on the league and picking up points in that.”

The Blues, second in W e s s e x Division One, headed to Bristol where they took on Longwell Green Sports.

Goal-finder Danny Finnigan gave the visitors a dream start but it was short-lived when Longwell equalised.

Then a penalty and a third 20 minutes from full-time put Longwell 3-1 ahead and any thin chances of Amesbury forcing extra time were ruined when Tyler Brockway saw red for denying a goal scoring opportunity.

  • Bemerton continued their rich vein of form when they Beat Fareham Town 3-0 on Tuesday with goals from Slade, Joyce and Seb Dawes to climb to eighth in the league.