FA Cup/Trophy/Vase 2022/23

[Glyn]

[Pitmanchester]

Well that was a disastrous day at West.

On the pitch, West were far better, went ahead early but were very sloppy with the final pass so didn't take the many opportunities they had. Ascot were big, uncompromising, hoofed it and scored with their only clear chance after 80 mins. West got ahead in the shoot out but missed their last two.

And that's when it all unravelled. The Ascot squad all ran to the winning penalty taker but then did knee slides and various "Premier League" gestures right in front of the home fans, really close to the edge of the pitch, goading the main group of home fans behind the goal. Plastic beer glasses and the odd can were thrown, someone ran on the pitch to try and fight them, someone else went to try to stop him and he got pushed around by the players. It took a while to calm down. All seemed really unnecessary as at West all the singing is in support of the team, not abusing the other team.

But the Ascot players have alleged they were racially abused by fans during the game, hence their "celebration". The club have asked for more info as we really want to deal with this. It's a mystery at the moment as no-one on a big supporters WhatsApp group heard anything and it's really the last thing you'd expect here.

If you've seen the Football Focus clip, you'll get an impression of what the club is all about. But when you get a lot of new people coming down for a big game, these things can happen. I remember the scenes at the FCUM play off final.

Oh well, thankfully we'll probably never see them again.

[Glyn]

Sounds much like how we felt after the West Auckland encounters...

[Glyn]

FA Cup semi-finals: Brighton v Manchester United live on BBC One - https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/65118497

[Del]

FA Cup semi-finals: Brighton v Manchester United live on BBC One - https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/65118497

Hopefully not ruined by Big-Ears as host!

[Glyn]