FA Vase - 1st Qualifying Round: Retford 2-2 Euxton Villa (Retford win 6-5 on penalties)

15th August 2026

Retford vs Euxton Villa @ The Green Bros. Stadium @ Retford

FA Vase - First Qualifying Round (both teams Step 5)

15:00 KO

£6 entry

Attendance - 142

Half-time score: Retford 0-0 Euxton Villa

Goals:

Euxton Villa: Clegg - 46'

Retford: Sennett-Neilson - 60'

Euxton Villa: Darley - 82'

Retford: Hextall - 91'

Final Score: Retford 2-2 Euxton Villa (Retford win 6-5 on penalties)

I found myself again up in Lincolnshire visiting family, and as ever this was a great opportunity to take in a new ground. Looking at nearby fixtures, the game at Retford stood out not only being a new ground, but also an FA Vase tie, nothing can beat a big cup game. Retford play at Step 5 in the North Counties East Premier Division following promotion last season and have had a solid start to the season with 7 points in 4 games to see them currently 5th in the table. Visitors Euxton Villa are based in Lancashire, near Preston, a large almost 2hr journey to Retford, and also play in Step 5 but in the parallel North West Counties Premier Division, with 3 points from their opening two games.

Before the game I visited a couple of the local pubs, such as the Retford Craft Shop and Beer Under the Clock, two excellent pubs well worth a revisit. The Retford ground itself is in a unique location, not too far from the town centre and situated right next to the East Coast Mainline, with the ground aptly named The Rail (called Green Bros. Stadium for sponsorship) with the team nicknames The Choughs. To enter the ground you had to go through a tunnel under the A620.

The ground was a nice new modern facility, with a proper turnstile, a very affordable £6 entry fee and nice full colour printed programme for £2. The ground had shelters 3 sides of the ground, and a nice clubhouse complex complete with a food hut, bar, toilets, a small training pitch for the kids and my highlight, an area of decking with tables for a perfect view of the game. I grabbed myself a beer and some food, a delicious steak pie with peas, a healthy dusting of pepper and a good squirt brown sauce, lovely.

It was a gloriously sunny afternoon, but not as fierce as the last few days, but still on the hot side for the players. Under the endless blue skies, the hosts Retford lined up in their home navy blue with the visitors Euxton Villa in their home bright orange kits.

KEY MOMENTS

RT = Retford

EV = Euxton Villa

17' - RT - A free-kick on the left flank whipped in by Wilson, he finds DeGirolamo open at the far-post, he powers in a strong header, but keeper Kitchen gets across well to turn the ball round the post for a corner. From this corner, Dungworth curls the ball in and it flies into the crossbar and out.

29' - RT - A diagonal ball sets Dungworth off down the left, he beats his man and tries to curl an effort round the keeper and into the far-side of the goal, but Kitchen is equal to it and pushes the ball out for a corner.

46' - EV - GOAL (0-1) - A swift attack down the right not long after the restart, Booth takes the ball into the box and lashes in a strike, keeper Fielding gets a leg to it but deflects the ball into the path of Clegg who taps into the open goal, great start to the second half for the visitors!

60' - RT - GOAL (1-1) - A long ball up the right, it looks a lost cause but Dungworth doesn't give up and manages to hook the ball across the box, over Kitchen, and directly into Sennett-Neilson, who had continued his run, and he powers in a bullet header from close range, for a well-deserved equaliser.

81' - EV - Pendlebury on the right squares a good ball across the box, it evades goalkeeper Fielding and Booth looks in, he slides in to connect but misses by millimetres and the chance goes begging.

82' - EV - GOAL (1-2) - Euxton make up for the miss a minute later, an attack down the left from Booth, he skips past his man and cuts the ball back to Darley on the edge of the box and blasts the ball into the left side of the goal, rooting Fielding to the ground.

91' - RT - GOAL (2-2) - Retford get a free-kick close to the left corner flag, everyone goes up including the keeper Fielding, the initial ball is headed straight up into the air and substitute Hextall leaps up high and nods the falling ball into the net just under the bar and the home crowd go wild! Both teams are unable to bag a very late winner so the game goes straight to penalties, taken at the Will Tomlinson Stand end.

PENALTIES

RT - GOAL (1-0) - Coleman steps up to take the first penalty and calmly fires it down the middle.

EV - GOAL (1-1) - Uppal with a neat penalty into the bottom left corner.

RT - GOAL (2-1) - Wonham sends the keeper the wrong way and fires the ball into the open net.

EV - GOAL (2-2) - Tait to the left to maintain the 100% record.

RT - GOAL (3-2) - Nsiah with a powerful effort, it crashes into the inside left post and into the net, heart in mouth moment!

EV - GOAL (3-3) - Baldwin banking on the keeper diving with a direct effort high and down the middle.

RT - GOAL (4-3) - Sennett-Neilson with a superb penalty directly into the far right side of the goal.

EV - GOAL (4-4) - Darley with a carbon copy of Sennett-Neilson's penalty, no saving that one.

RT - GOAL (5-4) - Tingle with a effort to the bottom left, Kitchen gets down low and get a hand to the ball, but the contact is not strong enough and the ball bounces off his arm and into the roof of the net.

EV - GOAL (5-5) - Bibby cracks one down the middle to send the shoot-out into sudden death!

RT - GOAL (6-5) - Tahar also banks on the keeper diving and powers one down the middle.

EV - MISS (6-5) - Euxton captain Darr steps up, his effort is to the right but at the perfect height for Fielding who dives the correct way and makes the save. RETFORD WIN!!

After a fairly cagey first-half, the early Euxton goal sparked the game into life, with the hosts impressively stepping up following each goal they conceded, for what was an end-to-end 2nd half. Euxton looked great on the break, with Booth the main threat, with Retford building the attacks more methodically, with Dungworth providing the spark, and Sennett-Neilson also impressed me with a strong performance, as did Tingle on the right-flank. The teams were evenly matched so penalties felt like a fair conclusion, and even these were very close with the first 11 spot kicks scored, although a couple went close to missing with Retford hitting the post and the Euxton keeper getting a hand to one of the efforts. It was a shame to see that it was the Euxton Villa's captain whose penalty was saved, but someone had to miss at some point. I wish Euxton Villa all the best in their league, and hope that Retford get a nice draw for the 2nd Qualifying Round. It would would be brilliant if Retford and my local Step 5 team, Thetford Town, both progressed far enough to meet in this competition, I know the Thetford fans would certainly enjoy a trip up to Retford, and I'm sure it would be the same vice-versa. All-in-all a great afternoon of football and excellent value for £6, a brilliant 4-goal second half, a penalty shoot out, glorious sun, great food and a fun atmosphere, definitely worth the visit!

Line-Ups:

RETFORD: Callum Fielding, Sam Tingle, Matt Overton, Krzysztof Jarosz, Nico DeGirolamo, Liam Bennett (C), Aaron Sennett-Neilson, Stephen Brogan, Max Dungworth, Ahmed Tahar, Iren Wilson. SUBS: Alex Wonham, Rory Coleman, Brad Hextall, Bernard Nsiah, Alister Haydock.

EUXTON VILLA: Will Kitchen, Ben Pendlebury, Ben Turton, Ethan Darr (C), Zach Abbott, Dec Baldwin, Jordan Bentham, Joel Darley, Joel Booth, Liam Clegg, Vaughn Green. SUBS: Tom Smith, Patrik Bibby, Aidan Tait, Leo Mackintosh, Raj Uppal.