Baker blasts Sidley to Vase victory

The striker netted twice in each half to secure a 4-2 win against a dogged Erith Town side that gave as good as they got in a feisty and thoroughly entertaining encounter at Gullivers on Saturday.

"It was a really good day," said Sidley player-manager Liam Barham. "I thought first half we played some of the best attacking football I have seen from us all season. Everything seemed to gel together and Peter scored some really good goals.

"He has been excellent for us and that's 14 goals for the season. He is really enjoying himself and he's got a smile back on his face. He stands out because of the goals he scored but on Saturday there were big performances from everyone."

Sidley's hopes of matching the furthest they had ever progressed in the national competition looked to be on shaky ground early on as Erith opened the scoring after only five minutes through Sam McNally's close range finish. But, other than a debatable late penalty from the visitors, this second round tie was pretty much all about the clinical finishing of Baker.

The equaliser came on 14 minutes when a short back pass by Chris Holmes let in the predatory Baker who kept his cool by side-stepping the onrushing goalkeeper and planting his shot into the unguarded net.

The Blues went ahead for the first time in the match just before half time and once again it came courtesy of a gift from Holmes whose suicidal pass across the top of the 18 yard box set up Baker and he wasted no time in thumping the ball into the bottom corner.

Sidley struggled to get their game going for a large chunk of the second half as their opponents pushed on in search of an equaliser, Matt Fagan and Richard Usherwood both forcing goalkeeper Peter Newstead into action.

Sidley were crying out for someone to provide them with the cushion of a two-goal lead and Baker stepped up to the plate on 76 minutes with a cleanly-struck sliding volley from a Keith Miles centre.

Erith were handed a lifeline two minutes from time when the referee adjudged Graham Morris' shoulder challenge on Usherwood to be worthy of a penalty and Fagan made no mistake.

The visitors were then awarded a free kick in a dangerous area in their very next attack and chose to throw their goalkeeper forward. The move backfired in spectacular fashion as the defence cleared to Baker, who, receiving possession in his own half, raced clear of the last man before slamming home to clinch Sidley's place in the last 64.