A new name will be etched onto the FA Vase this season as all four Semi-Finalists are appearing at this stage of the competition for the very first time.
This also means that the 50th FA Vase Final will follow the pattern of the 49 others that went before it whereby at least one of the clubs in each Final appeared in it for the first time ever.
And this season also sees the return of the traditional two-legged Semi-Finals for the first time in five years, with the second legs scheduled to take place seven days after the first.
There are just three leagues represented in this season’s Semi-Finals with the Essex Senior League providing two of the clubs and United Counties League and Hellenic League sides making up the quartet.
It’s only two years since a United Counties League side last lifted the Vase, Newport Pagnell Town defeating Littlehampton Town, and it’s just six years since Thatcham Town won the competition as members of the Hellenic League, but 40 years have passed since the Essex Senior League was last represented in the Final.
And with both that league’s clubs separated in the Semi-Final draw there is the possibility of an all Essex Senior League Final and maybe the first Vase winners from that league since Stansted FC won by the odd goal in five against Stamford FC in 1984.
One of the Essex Senior League sides still involved this season, Great Wakering Rovers, travel to Hellenic League opponents Worcester City with both clubs having only ever gone as far as the 5th Round in the past. These two clubs are the two top scoring sides in this season’s competition with Great Wakering having scored 23 times so far and Worcester City netting five goals more.
They both also started this season’s campaign in the earliest 1st Qualifying Round and so have each won through eight rounds already.
The other Semi-Final sees the second Essex Senior League club Romford FC host Lincoln United from the United Counties League.
Both clubs posted their previous best FA Vase runs in their respective debut campaigns so it has been quite some time for both of them to better those performances. Romford has done so after 27 years, but for Lincoln United it’s 49 years, having posted their previous best run in the competition’s inaugural 1974-75 season.
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