26/09/10: The Victory Club (0) v (5) Millview C.I.U.
Scorers: None
Team: Swan (GK), Mountford, Hudson (Davison), Bunyan (c), Rodgers, Harding (Lamb), Collins, Jackson, Robson (Stores), Hunter, Smiles
Unused Subs: White
Yellows: Collins, Rodgers, Davison
Reds: None
The Victory Club were eliminated from this season’s Durham County Sunday Cup as an embarrassing performance saw them fall to a 5-0 defeat against Division One strugglers, Millview C.I.U.
With manager, George Ross, failing to set his alarm to make it there in time for kick off, Alex Rodgers was left in charge of selecting the team for this week’s encounter. Rodgers’, who was unable to call upon Steve Dryden after the midfielder quit the team, elected to retain a 4-4-2 formation but made one personnel change with Anthony Collins replacing Graham Lamb in the centre of midfield. Rumours floated around the ground that Ross had wanted to name an unchanged eleven but Rodgers decided otherwise. It was a big call as that meant captain, Greg Davison, back from his foray in Morocco, and vice-captain, Lamb, were consigned to the bench. Paul Bunyan continued as captain having done the job in the final half an hour of the TEF game.
The opening stages of the game passed without event on the pitch although George Ross did finally appear on the touchline. Ross was reportedly heard to ask Lamb why he was stood next to him on the sideline and not on the pitch. Sadly we do not know what Lamb’s response was but the simple answer to Ross’ question would have been – ‘had you bothered to turn up on time then you could have picked the team and he wouldn’t have been!’
Back on the pitch, Millview C.I.U. were starting to gain the upper hand in the contest and the Victory were struggling to cope with the Millview wide men as a steady stream of crosses began being delivered into the box. One particular cross went right along the six yard line but unfortunately for Millview no one could quite get on the end of it. The Victory were defending resolutely though and a couple of good blocks by Hudson and Bunyan meant that Swan was left with little to do in the Victory goal.
The Victory attempted to respond and following a good passing move, Scott Hunter saw a shot saved by the keeper. A couple of minutes later, James Smiles went on one of his trademark mazy runs but was denied a chance on goal thanks to a fantastic last ditch tackle just as Smiles was preparing to shoot.
As the game reached the half hour point the scores were still level with both teams matching each other. Then, with thirty five minutes gone, the Victory had a let off when a cross from the right sailed over the head of Swan but hit the cross bar and bounced away to safety.
The Victory failed to take note of the warning though as just over a minute later, Millview took the lead. Another cross from right was delivered into the Victory penalty area and this time the small centre forward got across the front his marker to glance a header past Swan and into the far corner of the net. The goal was a sucker punch for the men in red and was also the first one they have conceded in the first half of any game so far this season.
Worse was to follow two minutes before half time when Millview doubled their advantage. The Millview right winger seized on Rodgers’ poor clearance and made his way into the box. Then, after sidestepping Bunyan’s sliding tackle, he had a shot on goal but Swan made a very good save diving low to his right. Sadly for Swan and the rest of the team, the ball rebounded back out to another Millview player who slid the ball into the opposite corner of the net past Hudson, who had made his way onto the goal line.
As the half time whistle went the Victory could consider themselves unfortunate to be a goal behind let alone two as on the first half viewing there was little to choose between the two teams. At the interval, the Victory were forced to endure the usual words of encouragement from their manager who described the first half display as ‘a parcel of crap’. Spectators must have wondered which game Ross had been watching because it certainly hadn’t been this one.
The second half began poorly for the Victory as inside the opening ten minutes of the second period they went 3-0 down. A cross from the right which was floated into the Victory box seemed certain to be caught comfortably by Swan. However, the ball got held up in the wind, which made taking the catch slightly harder to judge and the Victory number one was only able to fumble the ball out to the Millview centre forward, who gleefully poked the loose ball home.
In response to conceding the third goal, Ross finally sprang into action on the touchline and made some changes although after hearing what these were the players on the pitch must have wished he hadn’t bothered. While the introduction of Graham Lamb for Peter Harding, who was struggling with a groin problem, was not both needed and unsurprising the change of tactics was. Incredibly, despite being three goals behind, Ross elected to pull Scott Hunter back into midfield and alter the formation to 4-5-1. The Millview touchline could scarcely contain their laughter while the Victory players and supporters must have wondered if their manager had lost the plot.
Another change followed just after the hour mark as Ross swapped one centre half for another with club captain, Davison coming on for the unfortunate, Hudson, who for the second week in a row had acquitted himself very well.
The changes had very little effect and on sixty nine minutes, Millview C.I.U. scored a fourth goal. The Millview left back, who was arguably the man of the match, got in down the left and pulled the ball back for an unmarked midfield player to clinically slot the ball home past a helpless Swan.
After conceding that goal, Ross brought on Ben Stores for Stephen Robson and reverted back to the 4-4-2 formation the team had started the game with. This move suggested that Ross had managed to find a couple of his marbles he had misplaced around ten minutes earlier.
This alteration almost paid immediate dividends as Stores did well to win a 50-50 tackle midway inside the opposition half and his right footed shot went only just wide of the left hand upright. It was Victory’s first effort on goal since early in the first half and probably the closest they had come to scoring in the whole game.
The game had turned into a scrappy, niggly affair as both teams put in some hefty challenges although not all of them were fair. Millview had a player booked for a heavy tackle on Collins and the Victory player seemingly hell bent on retribution found his way into the referee’s notebook following a late tackle of his own. Rodgers was then cautioned after he repeated his comical deliberate handball from the New Demi game earlier in the season when he misjudged the flight a high ball forward.
With fifteen minutes remaining, Millview were lucky not to have a player sent off when a horrific looking two footed tackle on Hunter was only punished by a yellow card. It was a poor decision from the official who despite dishing out all of these cards had started to lose control of the game.
This was further evident as the game entered the final ten minutes when the Darlington based referee awarded Millview a penalty. The Millview left back beat a couple of challenges and stormed into the penalty area. As Davison came across to snuff out the danger the full back decided to knock the ball past him and then go down. The referee had no hesitation in pointing to the spot a decision with saw the player ‘fouled’ grinning like a Cheshire cat content in the knowledge that he had been able to con the referee into giving it. Davison, like the rest of the Victory players, was furious and said to the referee that he hoped he wasn’t getting paid for this. The official didn’t take to kindly to this comment and elected to book Davison for dissent. From the resulting spot kick, the small Millview forward sent Swan the wrong way to complete his hat-trick.
In the closing stages, as Millview took their foot off the pedal, the Victory had a few opportunities to grab a consolation goal. Davison came agonisingly close to heading in a Steve Jackson corner while Hunter also saw a shot go just wide of the post. However, any hopes of the Victory getting on the score sheet were ended when Hunter’s right footed shot was brilliantly diverted over the bar by the Millview keeper, who had been a virtual spectator for the rest of the game.
As the referee blew the final whistle, Millview celebrated their first win of what has been a troubled start to the season while the Victory were left to reflect on the end of their cup run in this competition.
George Ross said very little to his players at full time instead keeping his counsel and making a hasty retreat for home. After watching this embarrassingly poor performance and with rumours of player unrest the chants of ‘Ross Out’ have become an awful lot louder. Next week sees the Victory return to league action against Hendon Vics as the men in red look to ensure that this week’s disappointment does not affect their league form. It will be interesting to see whether Ross is still in his position by next Sunday but with a lack of other alternatives it seems that will be the case.
