We're expecting a very difficult test at Hamworthy as you would at this stage of a national competition, says Glebe boss Harry Hudson

GLEBE manager Harry Hudson says he’s expecting a very difficult test away to Hamworthy United in the last 32 of The FA Vase tomorrow.

Hudson takes his side down to Poole with his side sitting in third-place in the Southern Counties East Football League Premier Division table with 43 points from 19 games, 11 points adrift of leaders Chatham Town.

Hamworthy United are unbeaten at home in the league and are in second-place in the Wessex League Premier Division table with 54 points from 23 games.

The Hammers are level on points with leaders Horndean but do have a game in hand and have conceded only 15 goals in the league this term and only two goals have been conceded in 10 league games at the County Ground.

“Hamworthy are doing very well in their league, they don’t concede many goals and are very hard to play against, so we’re expecting a very difficult test as you would at this stage of a national competition,” said Hudson.

“The journey is something that we’ve got to navigate being quite a long way.   We’re very grateful that the club has put on a fantastic package for us with food and coaches and stops to give us the best chance to navigate that successfully.

“As a group it’s been a challenging four weeks or so.  We’ve only played one competitive game and we had a friendly on Tuesday because of Covid and the game on Saturday against Welling Town was called off because of a waterlogged pitch so it’s been a challenging time.”

The Foxes haven’t played a league game since being held to a goal-less draw in Gravesend by Punjab United on 3 January, as home games against Holmesdale on New Years’ Day and Welling Town last Saturday were postponed.

However, Glebe managed to blow out the cobwebs by holding Isthmian League Premier Division side to a 2-2 friendly draw on Tuesday night at Foxbury Avenue.

“We’ve had a really, really good week. We had a training session on Saturday, we managed to train when the game was called off and the boys were in great spirits,” revealed Hudson.

“We played a great friendly against Merstham when we played some really good stuff and got back towards some of the form that we’ve been struggling to find a little bit and we had a good training session last night.

“We’re very much looking forward to the game. Hamworthy have a 3G pitch, which should allow us to play the style we like to.

“We know if we can find a level that we can reach we don’t fear anyone and that showed with us playing a Step Three team on Tuesday and going toe-to-toe with them so we’re just hopeful we can find that level.

“If we can do it consistently for 90 minutes we’re confident that we can beat anyone and hopefully that starts tomorrow at Hamworthy.

“We’re looking forward to the game and hopefully we can get ourselves in the hat for the last sixteen.”

If scores are level after 90 minutes then the game will be settled by a penalty shoot-out.

Glebe have beaten Coggeshall United (3-1), May & Baker (5-0), Holmer Green (3-1), Hanworth Villa (5-4 on penalties after a 1-1 draw) and Beckenham Town (4-3 on penalties after a goalless draw) to get this far.

Only the ties against Hanworth Villa and Beckenham Town have been played at home.

Tim Sills’ side, meanwhile, have beaten Corsham Town (4-2 on penalties after a 1-1 draw), Cadbury Heath (6-5 on penalties after a 1-1 draw), Andover New Street (2-1) and Royal Wootton Bassett (3-1) to reach this stage of the competition.

Tomorrow’s game will be their first at home in the FA Vase this season.

Hamworthy United  v  Glebe
The Buildbase FA Vase Fourth Round
Saturday 15 January 2022
Kick Off 3:00pm
at The County Ground, Blandford Close, Hamworthy, Poole, Dorset BH15 4BF