17/10/10: The Victory Club (3) v (5) Grangetown WMC
Scorers: Harding, Rodgers, Stores
Team: Swan (GK), Collins, Rodgers, Bunyan, Lamb (c) (Stores), Harding, Jackson, White, Smiles, Robson, Hunter
Unused Subs: None
Yellows: Bunyan, Collins
Reds: None
Despite a much improved team performance, the Victory Club lost for the fourth game in a row, as Division Two leaders, Grangetown WMC, edged their way to a 5-3 win.
The Victory stuck with the 4-5-1 formation which proved so effective in the first half of the Florists game but were forced into making personnel changes as they were faced with a defensive shortage. The banned, Mark Dryden and injured, Nathan Hudson, were joined on the absentee list by Greg Davison and Simon Mountford. This saw Alex Rodgers shifted to centre half alongside Paul Bunyan while Anthony Collins and captain for the day, Graham Lamb, were forced to occupy unfamiliar roles as the two full backs. Steve Jackson and David White took their places in the middle of the five man midfield and Scott Hunter replaced Ben Stores as the lone striker.
The Victory began sluggishly and could have found themselves behind inside the first minute when a WMC player scampered clear down the right but his cross was poor and provided Swan with an easy catch.
As the first half wore on the men in red started to get to grips with the game and their pressing game while defending was causing Grangetown WMC to rush passes and give the ball away.
The Victory almost took the lead on the quarter of an hour mark but a brilliant last ditch tackle by Grangetown’s tramp look-alike centre half prevented James Smiles from being through on goal.
Then as the clocked ticked over twenty minutes and arguably against the run of play, Grangetown WMC went ahead. A throw in from level with the penalty spot was flicked on at the near post and the ball found its way to a WMC player who overhead kicked the ball past Swan and into the far left hand corner of the net. It was a great strike but the Victory will have to ask themselves whether they should be conceding another goal in that manner after Hendon Vics scored an almost identical strike just a fortnight ago.
The Victory didn’t seem to be unduly affected by the concession of the goal and continued to battle hard. A robust challenge on Hunter just outside the edge of the penalty area presented a more than decent shooting opportunity but Peter Harding could only fire the free kick against the wall.
As the game reached the half hour point the Victory Club deservedly hauled themselves level. An attack was not properly cleared by the WMC defence and White’s beautifully weighted first time ball put Harding through on goal. The Victory winger took a touch to steady himself before showing really calmness and authority in slotting the ball past the keeper.
Moments later and Grangetown WMC almost regained their advantage when they were awarded a free kick right on the edge of the box. Referee, David Morton, decided that Bunyan had handled the ball despite the fact the Victory defenders shirt had a big muddy stain on the front where the ball had actually hit him. From the resulting free kick, Swan dived away to his left and parried the ball clear.
The turnaround was complete on thirty nine minutes as the Victory Club took the lead. Smiles' left wing corner found Rodgers completely unmarked and he planted the ball into the net via a combination of his head and shoulder.
The Victory comfortably saw out the rest of the first period to go into the break leading for the first time this season. However, stand in management duo, Rodgers and White, were quick to stress that the job was only half done and it would need plenty more of the same if the men in red were to get something out of this game.
The second half began with Grangetown WMC on the front foot – no doubt their ears still ringing following the verbal dressing down they received at the interval. Some good quick passing moves saw Swan forced into making a couple of comfortable saves following strikes from distance.
Then, on forty nine minutes, Grangetown WMC were awarded a penalty. A long ball over the top saw the small speedy striker run in behind the Victory defence. Rodgers gave chase but as the forward made his way into the box, Swan came off his line and cleaned the man out leaving the referee with an easy decision. The penalty was duly converted with the taker slamming the ball right down the middle of the goal with Swan diving to his left.
Grangetown WMC now sensed blood and continued to attack with real purpose. Their pacy striker was only denied a shot on goal by a perfectly timed sliding tackle by Bunyan.
On the hour mark though Bunyan’s timing was not quite up to scratch inside the area as he conceded the Victory’s second penalty of the game. A mistake by Lamb put the Grangetown forward through on goal and as Bunyan sprinted back he attempted to put in a last ditch sliding tackle. Replays showed that the Victory defender got a slight touch on the ball before bringing the attacker down but from the referee’s position on the halfway line, there was no way he could have noticed it and that meant he had no real choice other than to give the spot kick. With the penalty having been given, worse could have followed for Bunyan and the Victory but fortunately, the referee elected a yellow card to be sufficient punishment along with the penalty. On another day and with a different referee it is not inconceivable that with a goal scoring opportunity having been denied that the colour of the card could have been red. The penalty was duly coverted into the bottom left hand corner to put Grangetown WMC 3-2 up.
A couple of minutes after falling behind again, Graham Lamb, who had suffered a recurrence of the arm injury which forced him off against the Florists, was replaced by Ben Stores. Stores’ first involvement in the match was to have his foot stamped on by one of the thugs in the Grangetown midfield.
With twenty minutes remaining, Grangetown WMC made it 4-2. Another long ball caught out a static Victory backline and the diminutive striker ran clear and slid the ball past the oncoming Swan to grab himself a well deserved goal. In running off to celebrate his goal the player injured his ankle and as a result had to be substituted.
Unlike previous games, The Victory weren’t letting their heads drop and they almost reduced their arrears through Smiles. He got in down the left, after dispossessing a WMC midfielder and hammered in a shot which cannoned off the bar. The Victory appealed for a penalty as Smiles was clearly upended from behind as he was in the act of shooting but the referee deemed that because Smiles had got his shot away that there was no case for the play to be brought back.
Following this incident, Grangetown WMC went straight up the other end and killed the game off. A high ball was not dealt with properly and it broke to a WMC player on the edge of the area. He skipped round a couple of half hearted challenges before lobbing the ball over a stranded Swan and into the net.
As the game entered the final ten minutes, the Victory made it 5-3 as big John Parkin look-alike, Ben Stores, netted his first competitive goal for the club. A good Victory move ended with Hunter firing a tracer bullet of a right footed shot goal wards from twenty five yards out. The shot clearly had the keeper, who was at full stretch, beaten but cannoned back off the left hand post. Luckily, for the Victory, however, Stores was on hand to rifle the loose ball home.
Anthony Collins picked up his second booking of the season, after he took exception to being penalised for a foul on the edge of his own box and told the referee where to go. From the free kick, Grangetown WMC almost scored a sixth but a combination of White and Robson scrambled the ball off the goal line and away to safety.
In the final couple of minutes, Alex Rodgers, produced the save of the match with a stop that Gordon Banks would have been proud of. The only problem was that unlike Banks, Rodgers wasn’t playing in goal at the time. After a WMC attacker went round Swan he cracked a shot high towards the near post. From out of nowhere Rodgers took off and dived full length to fist the ball away to safety. As the WMC touchline appealed vociferously for handball the referee indicated that Rodgers had in fact used his head to clear the ball. This brought much amusement to those on the pitch who knew that it was a clear handball while Rodgers himself acted as though he didn’t know what all the fuss was about.
That proved to be the last meaningful action of the game as a minute or so later the referee blew for time. The final 5-3 score line meant the Victory slipped to a fourth defeat in a row in all competitions but unlike the previous three losses there were certainly positives to take from this performance. Next week sees the men in red return to cup action against the runaway leaders of Division Three, The Inn Place.
