Bowman on the Road: Steyning Town do Sussex proud by hitting six in FA Cup
Steyning Town made the tricky trip to Badshot Lea near Farnham to kick-start what they hope to be a season of success – in the league and the cups.
Both manager Michael Hamm and MoM Finn Daniels-Yeoman suggested that promotion back to the Isthmian South East would be the main priority.
That may be so but initially the club have given themselves a massive boost in the most prestigious cup competition in the world. After a fantastic comeback 6-3 win all connections can look forward to a big payday when Hendon turn up on August 16. That's a plum home tie, make no mistake.
It didn't look that way after ten minutes. Yours truly was in the chip queue as a stifled cheer went up. Then moments later in the beer queue a more robust roar sounded. Two-nil to the hosts.
That signalled a calm response from the Sussex team, who didn’t press the panic button at any stage.
After 30 minutes the Badshot keeper made an ill-timed challenge and the ref pointed for a foul. Stan Bridgman slammed home the resulting penalty. Steyning now well on top, scored a second and third with ease.
In an excellent and exciting first half the hosts managed a leveller and inextricably had a man sent off for a petulant and needless show of dissent. Three-three at HT.
In warm conditions Steyning strolled to victory as they made the most of the sent-off player. Badshot, increasingly frustrated, were blaming everyone bar themselves.
Indeed, the home manager said something late on leaving the ref no option but to send him down the tunnel. Daniels-Yeoman produced a brilliant audacious chip to cement his MoM performance before Dion Jarvis scored two late goals.
Manager Hamm said later: “We have some big characters in this squad who can deal with these moments. We are very pleased to have come through this.”
Of Hendon he said: “That's a nice home draw – on our artificial surface we will have a lot of options on the day.”
He added: “We will be looking to play on the front foot and try to score a lot of goals this season. We want to play exciting football. The main target is to win promotion back to the Isthmian League.”
Huge thanks to Steyning for a memorable opportunity for this first edition of a brand-new feature on the sussexworld.co.uk website and in the Sussex Newspapers titles.
We wish the team every success with that Hendon tie and as they start your league campaign.
We hope you have enjoyed edition one of Bowman on the Road for 2025. Next Saturday we travel to Essex to watch Horsham debut in National South at Chelmsford. Can't wait to catch up with the Lardy Army!