Rye gunning for Vase progress

Rye travel to lower grade Amersham Town in the second round seeking to reproduce the form that took them to the quarter-finals two seasons ago.

“I’m looking forward to it. I do like playing against unknown teams,” said Rye manager Scott Price. “I think we will go in as favourites which doesn’t always help. I would imagine they will be treating it like their cup final so it will be hard, but if we play well, I fully expect us to get a positive result.”

Rye are third in Sussex County Football League Division One (step five of the non-league pyramid), while Amersham are 14th in the Spartan South Midlands League Division One (step six).

Amersham have won three matches to reach this stage (5-0 away to Henley, 4-2 at home to Carterton and 4-3 at home to Flackwell Heath), whereas Rye have played just the one (a 3-2 victory at home to Horley Town) having been exempt until round one of the national competition.

Judging by Amersham’s results in the previous rounds and Rye’s recent matches being full of goals, those in the supporters’ minibus travelling up from Rye are likely to be in for an entertaining afternoon.

“Obviously we’ve got to defend a little bit better, but I don’t think I’ve got the right balance to go there and play defensively,” Price continued. “I won’t change the way we play as in formation-wise; I just want them (the players) to use their heads a bit. It would be nice to go up there and win 1-0.”

Andy Atkin will return from suspension to lead the attack, but Micky O’Callaghan, Luke Woodley and Anthony Storey are struggling with knocks. Indeed, O’Callaghan was only rated 50-50 in the middle of this week. Dominic Clarke and Chris Gould are cup-tied, but Ryan Alexander is eligible.

See today’s Rye Observer for the full article.