Bluebells Wilt as Reds Take Charge
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- 4 min read
Uxbridge 3-0 Haywards Heath Town | Emirates FA Cup 1st Qualifying Round
Saturday September 5, 2026 | Attendance: 301
It's fair to say that Uxbridge’s FA Cup record in recent seasons is not the best. In fact, with only one appearance in the 2nd qualifying round in four years, and a solitary trip to the 3rd qualifying round eleven seasons ago, many at Honeycroft would feel we are long overdue a decent run in the world's oldest cup competition. A draw at home to a side two steps lower would—on paper—be the perfect way to kick-start such a run, but a resolute and confident Haywards Heath side would be a tough nut to crack in the late summer sunshine.
The Reds would pay their opponents plenty of respect, with only minor tweaks to the side that played against Wimborne last week. Josh Gidaree coming in at right-back and Jake Coomes replacing the injured Olly McCoy were the only changes to the starting eleven. With Haywards Heath having made an unbeaten start to their Southern Combination Premier League season, manager Danny Edwards wasn’t taking any chances.
The home side started brightly, testing the Haywards Heath resolve almost immediately. In just the second minute, George Moore spun sharply on a sixpence and unleashed a dangerous snapshot on the turn, but Stroomberg-Clarke in the Bluebells' goal got down well low to his left to hold the effort. The early pressure continued to mount three minutes later when Moore again found a pocket of space and attempted an audacious dinked shot that drifted just over the crossbar.
Haywards Heath, however, were not without their own attacking intent and looked to spring forward on the counter. Around the quarter-hour mark, Nathan Da Costa drilled a vicious dipping effort narrowly over the bar, and on 23 minutes, Charlie Meehan pinged another warning shot just wide of the upright. Between those chances, Haywards Heath were being well-backed by a large and very vocal away support and must have felt like an upset could well be on the cards. Uxbridge, though, kept asking plenty of questions; a 20th-minute corner whipped dangerously to the near post forced Stroomberg-Clarke to parry the ball awkwardly into the air before nervously gathering the rebound under heavy pressure from the Uxbridge frontline.
As the half wore on, it was the hosts who looked the more likely to break the deadlock. On 30 minutes, the industrious Toby Nnadozie showed great footwork before being brought down centrally on the edge of the box to win a highly dangerous free-kick. Moore’s initial set-piece effort was blocked by the wall, but Jack Burchell was quick to react, firing the loose ball back through the crowded penalty area and drawing a smart, reactive parry from the keeper. Just a minute later, Moore broke aggressively down the flank and delivered a pinpoint low cross into the path of Francis Amartey, who brought it down superbly with a soft touch. The keeper rushed off his line brilliantly to smother the ball before the shot could be taken, keeping the scores level going into the break.
HT 0-0
The second half began much like the first, with Uxbridge firmly on the front foot and eager to assert their dominance. In the 46th minute, a well-worked move found Moore in space in the box. His powerful shot was blocked but fell invitingly into the path of Jake Coomes, who leaned back and unfortunately fired his effort over the target. Coomes, though, was right back in the thick of the action again on 54 minutes, creating space for himself before curling a fine attempt just wide of the post.
The persistent pressure from the Reds finally paid dividends in the 63rd minute. A Liam Prior-Tack corner was only half-cleared by the Haywards Heath defenders. Time then stood still as the visitors hesitated, and Coomes was on hand to nip in and calmly fire the loose ball into the back of the net to make it 1-0 and break the visitors' resistance. Ten minutes later, Uxbridge doubled their advantage. Another dangerous, outswinging Prior-Tack corner was headed out to the edge of the box, where Burchell controlled the dropping ball before striking a fine shot that clipped the underside of the crossbar and nestled in the net.
The visitors were visibly rattled by the quickfire double, and almost immediately after the restart, Stroomberg-Clarke shanked a clearance straight to Prior-Tack. He attempted an instinctive lob from distance, but the keeper recovered just in time to backpedal and claw it away, narrowly sparing his own blushes. The Reds kept pushing, and on 78 minutes, Amartey did brilliantly down the left flank, beating his man before flashing a powerful shot into the side netting.
As the clock ticked down, Uxbridge continued to turn the screw on a tiring Bluebells defence. Summer signing Trevan Robinson—who had been out of football for some time with an injury—made his first appearance of the season. It was nearly a dream debut on 80 minutes as a beautifully weighted ball over the top found him breaking in behind the defence, forcing a desperate, retreating Harry Shooman to stretch and hook the ball over his own crossbar to prevent a certain third goal.
The icing on the cake finally arrived in the 89th minute. A pinpoint ball was played across the box to Nnadozie, who saw his shot crash off the crossbar. The initial rebound was blocked by a desperate lunge, but Uxbridge recycled the ball intelligently to Troy Perez-Duah. The midfielder did well to create space for a shot, and made no mistake, drilling a low, composed strike into the net to cap off the win and see Uxbridge safely through to the next round.
FT 3-0
Uxbridge: Morris, Gidaree (Brown), Martin (Stallard), Burchell, Massey, Nnadozie, Perez-Duah, Prior-Tack (Le Paih), Amartey (Duffy), Moore, Coomes (Robinson) Subs not used: Orlowski, Deadfield
