Weekend football round-up

ALCESTER Town progressed to the second round of the Birmingham Vase despite a below-par performance at AFC Solihull.

The home side took the lead through Andy Matthews, but Alcester hit back with strikes from Stuart Hall and James Ward.

Solihull pressed in the final ten minutes and were very close to finding an equaliser, but Danny Janes’ men managed to hang on.

Janes said: “I was really pleased with the first half in terms of our playing mentality, we moved the ball really well on a tight pitch and caused numerous problems.

"Again we could have come in at the break with four or five goals, but we were not clinical enough when we created chances.

The second half was disappointing, our mentality seemed to change and the last fifteen minutes became an end to end sort of game.

“We should have managed the game better and kept the ball, but we rushed our play and Solihull kept coming back at us – that is an element of our game we need to look at.”

Shipston Excelsior will join Alcester in the next round following a 3-1 success at Enville Athletic. James Drinkwater (2) and Jake Harris got the winning goals for Steve Hedderman’s side.

Jake Montgomery’s double strike saw Central Ajax safely though, as they triumphed 2-1 at Hampton. Earlswood Town beat Woodlands WMC 5-3 on penalties after the teams fought out a 1-1 draw.

In the Challenge Vase, FC Stratford eased through 4-2 at the expense of Inkberrow at Sands Road. Stratford went 2-0 up through Daniel Stokes and Joseph Knight.

Inkberrow levelled matters thanks to goals from Billy Coughlin and Harry Coughlin, but further strikes from Dan Kirby and Jay Tilbury sealed it.

In the FA Vase, Racing Club Warwick claimed a 2-0 win over Clipstone at Townsend Meadow. Joseph Carter and Liam Naven-Jones struck for the Racers, who will take on Alsager Town in round two.