Today I'm going back just one year to 2020 and Racing Club Warwick's visit to Highgate United in the FA Vase 2nd Qualifying Round.
Covid19 changed so many things in 2020, least of which was the football fixtures calendar. I had gone to Canada for a month in February 2020 but when lockdown in the UK was announced, I took the decision to extend my stay to 6 months on the grounds that there would be nowhere to go and nothing to do back home. As a result I didn't return to England until August 2020 just in time for the new football season! Little did we know that season 2020/21 would also be decimated by Covid19. However, back in the late summer sunshine, the FA Vase got underway and Racing Club Warwick successfully negotiated a tricky away tie at Hereford Pegasus thereby earning the right to visit Highgate United in the 2nd Qualifying Round.
Highgate? I wonder how many of you have visited The Coppice in Tythe Barn Lane? The Highgate that you know is probably the one in North London right? Well this Highgate is nowhere near that. Highgate United actually play near Shirley and Dickens Heath on the outskirts of Birmingham and the ground is not the easiest one to find. The area appears to be very countryfied although actually it's very close to the M40 and M42 to the South East of Brum.
The weather on the day was changeable to say the least. Bright sunshine one minute, biblical rain the next. Fortunately the crowd of 115 could be comfortably accommodated undercover as we watched the players trying to cope with the conditions. After an eventful and even opening period, the deadlock was broken by Warwick's Tom Smith firing home a shot from the edge of the area. In the 37th minute Mason Rowley nodded home a corner to make it 0-2 in Warwick's favour. Highgate then managed to pull a goal back just before halftime following a defensive howler that left Highgate's Anthony Smith clean through with just the keeper to beat. Into the second half and Warwick restored their two goal cushion with a Nick Seaborne header in the 58th minute. Down came the biblical rain and there was no let up from Racing Club either as Tyreece Ruddock scored on the break when clean through after 67 minutes. Back into bright sunshine and the final goal arrived courtesy of Nick Seaborne once again to make it Highgate United 1 Racing Club Warwick 5.
Racing Club's reward for their handsome victory was a home tie in the First Round Proper against Abbey Hulton United. Sadly for Warwick, due to ongoing pitch refurbishment at Hampton Road, the tie was switched to Abbey Hulton's home in the Potteries and Warwick crashed out to their hosts following a 1-1 draw and a penalty shootout on a bad tempered afternoon.
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