10/04/11: The Victory Clubs (1) v (0) New Demi
Scorers: Smiles
Team: Swan (GK), Mountford, Hudson, Davison (c), Bunyan, Robson, Harding, Rodgers (Collins), M. Dryden (Lamb), Hunter, Smiles
Unused Subs: Lewis
Yellows: None
Reds: None
The Victory Club successfully banished memories of their poor performance against Hunters Lodge as they battled to a 1-0 win over mid table side, New Demi.
The match was scheduled to take place at the Fulwell Mill Arena but was moved to the Silksworth Sports Complex (New Demi’s home pitch) to avoid any potential double booking of the pitch. The Victory played the Demi at that venue in the first game of the season and drew 2-2 thanks to a brace from leading scorer, James Smiles. The men in red also had Mark Dryden sent off in that match.
Many expected Lee Hermiston to ring the changes for the game given how woeful his side were in the previous match but the Victory gaffer elected to stick with the 5-4-1 formation and make just the solitary change bringing in Scott Hunter in place of Ben Stores, who was away at Centre Parcs for the weekend. Anth Collins, Graham Lamb and Jonny Lewis were all available again and were named as substitutes. The whereabouts of Chris Fisher was a mystery.
The Victory started positively and knocked the ball around nicely.
However, there was an early worry for Lee Hermiston when Scott Hunter had to come off for treatment after sustaining a cut just above his eye. The Victory winger put a header from a cross from the right over the bar but clashed heads with a Demi defender in the process. Thankfully, it was a simple patch up job and with the assistance of a bit of Vaseline, Hunter was ok to continue.
James Smiles was proving to be a real threat to the Demi backline and he was linking well with Hunter. There were two occasions when the Victory forward found himself with good chances on goal but each time the keeper was up to task and repelled the firmly struck shots.
At the other end the Victory backline was dealing comfortably with the long ball tactics which the Demi seemed intent on employing. The only scare came when the referee failed to give a blatant offside decision which enabled a Demi player to latch onto one of these long balls but thankfully he was only able to loft his effort over the bar.
Then, with around half an hour gone the breakthrough came and all the Victory’s hard work was rewarded. Another good bit of play between Hunter and Smiles ended with the former sliding a ball to the latter who turned the Demi centre back before dispatching a powerful right foot drive into the bottom corner of the net. It was no more than Smiles deserved for his first half endeavours.
Not content with their own goal advantage the Victory continued to push forward and were a threat from set pieces while Mark Dryden also saw a firm left footed shot charged down.
Lewis Swan meanwhile was having one of his quieter halves in the Victory goal and was probably troubled more by the youths talking to him from behind his goal than he was by any of the New Demi players.
As the whistle went to signal the end of the first period, the Victory could be more than content with their efforts. Hermiston praised his troops at the interval and asked for more of the same during the second half.
The Victory started the second half under pressure as New Demi, no doubt given a half time rollicking, came out all guns blazing but the Victory dug in and restricted their opponents to shots from distance which were comfortably dealt with by Swan.
As the second half progressed the passing of both teams disintegrated although not helped by the extremely firm and bobbly pitch and both teams pretty much resorted to just lumping long balls forward.
On one occasion when some good football was played, the Victory almost doubled their advantage. A neat one two between Simon Mountford and James Smiles saw the Victory right back put through on goal. As the Demi keeper came out to close Mountford down he stretched and managed to chip the ball over the keeper but much like the effort from the Demi player in the first half the ball just carried over the cross bar.
With eighteen minutes remaining Hermiston made a double sub in the centre of the park bringing on Lamb and Collins for the now tiring Rodgers and Dryden. Within moments of being on the pitch both replacements had made their presence felt as they were both penalised for aggressive tackles.
In the final stages New Demi threw more and more bodies forward but still the Victory defence stood strong.
New Demi almost equalised with just under ten minutes remaining but Swan was just able to reach up and claw away a looping header from a set piece.
Moments later and Swan made an even better save when he dived full length to his right to push away a snapshot from a Demi player after a loose ball fell to him inside the penalty area.
Despite a late flurry of corners, for which everyone on the New Demi side including the keeper congregated in the box, the Victory were never truly in danger and successful held out to record a third clean sheet in six games.
As the final whistle sounded the Victory players and their healthy set of away supporters celebrated the win – a massive three points which helps the side take a giant stride towards safety. A beaming, Victory manager was delighted when interviewed after the game commenting that ‘it was a fantastic display from the lads today and just the response he wanted after Thursday’s defeat.’ The Victory are without a midweek fixture this week so they must wait until Sunday for their next game – a difficult test against a Southwick FC side who have lost only once in Division Two so far this season.
