Winchester progressed to the 2nd qualifying round of the FA Cup for the 8th time in 11 years and for the third successive season beating a Tavistock side also from the Southern League Division 1 Central who were seeking their fourth ever 2nd qualifying round appearance 1-0.

Tavistock had reached this stage of the competition having beaten both Ilfracombe  Town and Ivybridge Town without conceding a goal and had won 2 and lost 2 of their 4 league games with only 2 goals conceded.  They reached the Southern League through successive promotions in completed seasons and in their thirds season as a Southern League club have consolidated their recently won status.

The FA Cup was first competed for more than 150 years ago in 1871/72 and although the days of the F A Cup final being the only domestic football match to be televised live are long gone the competition still has a lot of prestige associated with it and the win bonuses on offer are a valuable source of income for many clubs.

Over the years some players who have scored goals in FA Cup finals that have helped their teams win cup have earned a permanent place in football history for doing so and although neither of the current Winchester and Tavistock have players in this category it is true to say that Ted Drake who started his career at Winchester City scored the only goal of the 1935/36 F A Cup final as an Arsenal player, while Mike Trebilcock who began his career at Tavistock scored twice for Everton in the 1966 F A Cup final as they overcame a 2-0 deficit to win 3-2.

Winchester made one change to their starting line-up from Wednesday with Ollie Griggs replacing Harry Nevins who dropped to the substitutes bench, Winchester  had a seven man substitutes bench which in addition to Nevins contained the five substitutes bench which in addition to Nevins also contained James Harwood and the five substitutes from Wednesday.

The match was slow to get going with Tavistock playing a system that utilised wing backs and identifying Trevor Caborn as a threat and marking him tightly.  However Winchester began to grow into the game with I K Hill having two efforts, off target and the other saved by Aaron Deering in the home goal, while Josh McCormick put in a cross that no-one could get on the end of.  For Tavistock Ben Steer has an effort deflected for a corner, but in the first half hour neither goalkeeper had a save of note to make.

However Winchester did take the lead in the 31st minute when I K Hill set up Luka Chalwell who struck his shot well from just inside the penalty area,  It then requires an excellent save from Deering to deny Chalwell following a good team move involving Callum Buckley and Tommy Wright.  A crucial chhallenge from McCormick denied Ben Steer who would have been clean through, but for his intervention.  

Winchester therefore went into the interval with a 1-0 lead with Chalwell the scorer.  Chalwell is aa British Virgin Island international with three international goals in the 2023/24 CONACAF Nations League to his name and he also played twice for Eastleigh last season.

At the half time interval Winchester bought on Harry Nevins for Ollie Griggs and they started the second half brightly with McCormick forcing a save from Deering and Caborn having an effort blocked at the start of the half as they looked to increase their lead.  

Both teams came close to scoring with Luke Steer forcing a good save from Cairney and Tommy Wright hitting the cross bar.  Winchester made four further changes in the second half with Ollie Balmer and Dan Jones replacing I K Hill and Luke Chalwell in the first instance followed by Simba Mlambo coming in for Trevor Caborn and latterly Alex Wilkie taking over from Dom Panesar-Dower.

Being only one goal down Tavistock had a spell of pressure towards the end, but they lacked a cutting edge up front and Winchester had done enough to win through and they probably came y=the closest to scoring the games next goal when deep into stoppage time Tommy Wright forced a further save from Deering.

The Winchester fans who made the long trip to Devon on successive Saturdays and were in good voice for both trips deserve a lot of credit.

Winchester are away to Chertsey Town on Saturday.