Vas Vasiliou: Cheshunt's bright spark who scores big goals.

Scouting & Analysis

As the Isthmian season races towards its climax, several clubs are vying to be champions. Dartford lead the way on 80 points, with Billericay Town and Horsham hot on their heels in 2nd and 3rd, only 2 points separating the trio. Original league leaders Dover and league surprises Cray Valley make up the rest of the playoff spots. Dover will be especially disappointed, they looked likely to run away with the league at Christmas. A terrible run of form in the new year saw them pick up only 2 wins in 9 games, effectively torpedoing their initial promise. Cray Valley’s form has also stuttered, although this is to be expected, having only been promoted to the league this season.

Not everyone can be promoted and I have an article in the works for the end of the season, detailing 10 players who have excelled in the league this season and that promotion-chasing sides next season should look to sign, bolstering their squads for another assault on promotion. Vas Vasiliou was on this list. Cheshunt’s main man has been in excellent form, form so good that I thought he should get his own Harry Rogers scouting deep dive. Not that I’m not saying that should be his season’s crowning achievement (the hat-trick against Bognor is probably that) but I’d like to think he’d be chuffed.

Vas Vasiliou

Name: Antonis Vasiliou

Position: CAM/LW/RW

Age: 23 (May 12th 2001)

Height: 175cm

Preferred foot: Right/Both

What’s his story?

Vasiliou was born and raised in London. He quickly joined Barnet FC’s youth system and rose through the ranks at the North London side. The peak of his tenure was his 20 first-team appearances in the National League during the 2021-2022 season. Although these appearances were limited in terms of minutes and prior to this season, he had spent loan spells with clubs like Ashford Town, Beaconsfield, St Albans and Wingate and Finchley. It was the latter where the young forward eventually left Barnet permanently for.

His first full season (2022-2023) with Wingate saw him strike 9 goals, making him the third top scorer in a disappointing season for the side. 2023-2024 saw him leave for the seaside, making a short move to Margate Town. This would last only a few months. He made the move to Cheshunt FC in October of that season, and that is where he has resided ever since.

We pick up the story in the current season where Vasiliou’s form has exploded; his 17 goals this season make him easily Cheshunt’s top scorer, more than double his nearest rival. His goals are a big reason the side is 11 points clear of the relegation zone. That might sound a lot, but with the season’s league table being fairly stretched, they are only 15th, 4 places above the drop.

He also has Cypriot heritage and has turned out for the country's 19s, boasting 3 caps.

How does he play?

A diminutive and elusive forward player. Vasiliou originally played as CM but has excelled starting in more advanced positions, taking up RW/LW/CAM roles this season. The results have been positive, and moving forward has given him more chances to create and score goals.

Lacking the physical power to lead the line, he instead focuses on picking up various small areas of space behind the forwards, using his high levels of agility and excellent technical skills to cause damage.

He has high levels of flair and creativity and has often used his instinctive ‘street play style’ to complete some inspired finishes for the goals he has scored. This style of play and movement also leans into his ability to dribble out of tight situations, only needing a half yard to get passes and shots away with a short backlift.

Goal Scoring

Despite being a creative player who prefers to be in forward areas, he hasn’t always been a natural goalscorer. As I mentioned earlier this season, he has really kicked on and taken a lot more responsibility in front of goal. What I especially like about Vas is his instinctive finishing, reacting to opportunities quickly and effectively to dispatch chances, often finishing chances first time. He also has an impressive knack of being in the right place at the right time.

Normally, with these profiles I like to pick apart and highlight the different skills a player has, but with this one, I’m looking solely at his goal scoring. This is because his finishes are so varied, he isnt a out an out striker and his goals have been so important for Cheshunt.

Below we have some nice examples of his goalscoring exploits.

1.

Above is the first of his brace against Folkestone earlier in the year. In this game he took up a more central role playing off the main striker and in this example, we see his ability to find space and anticipate the ball well. Hanging back on the edge of the box he meets the ball on the half volley, showing excellent technique, he slams the ball into the net with a powerful controlled drive into the top corner.

2.

Here we have a creative and another instinctive finish for his 2nd goal in the same match. Cheshnut utilizes a long throw into the box that causes an initial problem for the Folkestone defenders. Vasiliou appears uninvolved in the initial phase of play, but with his lack of height, this is to be expected.

Anticipating the fall of the ball and spotting the vacated space by the opposition defenders, Vasiliou breaks into that space and strikes a first-time side-footed finish through the crowd. With the keeper unsighted, the ball nestles into the far corner. What I like about this goal is the creativity of the finish, a lot of players would need multiple touches in that area or smash the ball aimlessly (most likely ending up over the bar). Hitting the ball early also gave the defenders less chance to get set when attempting the block, you can see this by how they are clustered but standing flat-footed and unprepared.

3.

Below we have Vasiliou being more involved in the build-up to his goal. As I mentioned, he has played across the whole forward line. In this example, we have him slightly deeper but driving in from the right flank. Carrying the ball smoothly, he dribbles towards the opposition defence.

Vas is composed and waits for the opposition defender to make the initial jump forward, looking to press him. Once this happens, he off loads the ball to his teammate in space before driving into the space left by the movement forward of the defender. A perfectly weighted 1-2 is executed and Vasiliou runs on to the return ball beyond the last defenders.

A composed first touch and clinical finish result in a goal and caps an excellent move by Cheshunt, with Vasiliou being the main focal point. Despite not being an out-and-out striker, this example (and actually all these examples) shows his ability to be both creative and clinical with his finishing.

4.

In this example, we can look at Vasiliou’s physical ability. His acceleration and agility are his strongest physical attributes and in this example we can look at both. This goal is his second in a hat-trick against Bognor Regis (probably the least exciting of the 3), the loose ball bounces through the Bognor midfield and defence, eventually ending up into the path of the young forward.

Vas takes one touch to set himself, get it out of his feet and races away from the chasing defenders that had the advantage of already being on the move. Showing his excellent acceleration, he can leave defenders behind despite being stationary when picking up the ball.

Dribbling the ball smoothly, he carries it into the box and calmly slots the ball beyond the onrushing keeper. Spotting the gap, he chooses to go near post rather than far.

Conclusion

This is Vasiliou’s best season by far in terms of numbers, so its a small sample size, but goals are the most important thing in football and players that consistently find the back of the net are invaluable. Couple that with an attacking versatility which allows him to be effective anywhere across the forward line and you have an exciting attack weapon for multiple systems.

Check out his highlights, I’ve picked out 4 examples to highlight some diversity in his skill set but there are further excellent goals to see. His final goal in the Bognor hattrick was a thing of beauty and his recent vollied winner against Folkestone (they must be sick of him) has got to be seen.

Isthmian Premier is probably his level, this is the first time he has excelled in the league but there is no reason he can’t continue this form. The league changes heavily year to year, and with a large volume of players moving between sides, there is potential for Cheshunt to be challenging higher up the division. That being said, I’d recommend that any teams in the Isthmian Premier that are looking to be serious promotion contenders next season take a long, hard look at the exciting diminutive forward.