14/11/10: Silksworth Fleece (8) v (3) The Victory Club
Scorers: Lewis, Fisher, Jackson
Team: Swan (GK), Hudson, Bunyan, Davison (c) (Mountford), M. Dryden (Robson), Hunter, Jackson, Lamb, Fisher (Harding), Smiles, Lewis
Unused Subs: Rodgers, Stores
Yellows: Swan
Reds: None
The Victory Club fell to a heavy defeat for the second week running as a dramatic second half collapse once again proved to be their downfall. On this occasion, Division Three side, Silksworth Fleece were the beneficiaries as they ended up progressing through to the next round of the League Cup on the back of a comfortable 8-3 triumph.
With David White absent, Alex Rodgers was left in sole charge of proceedings and he elected to go with a 4-4-2 formation aimed at getting at their lower league opponents. Goalkeeper, Lewis Swan passed a late fitness test to return in goal while there was also a recall at left back for Mark Dryden who replaced Stephen Robson. In midfield, Steve Jackson and Scott Hunter were drafted in after impressive second half performances last week and they came in for Peter Harding and Anth Collins, who was at a Christening. Finally, new signing Jonathan Lewis, who was an unused sub seven days ago, was given his first Victory Club start as he was asked to play the Kevin Davies role up front alongside the Victory’s leading scorer James Smiles.
The Victory got off to a perfect start as with the game barely four minutes old they took the lead. A Smiles corner from the left was headed in from close range by Lewis – not a bad way to begin your career at the club.
The Victory buoyed by their early goal began to take a grip on the game and almost went two up but Lewis’ cross, after he had beaten his marker, narrowly evaded both Smiles and Jackson who were well placed in the box.
Then, against the run of play and with virtually their first attempt on goal of the game, Silksworth Fleece levelled the scores. A long ball over the top found a Fleece forward and despite Swan saving his initial effort, the ball ran kindly back to the same player who slid the ball into the empty net. It was unquestionably a blow for the Victory, who were once again sporting their green away kits.
However, the men in green, failed to be disappointed by the concession of the goal and within five minutes of Silksworth Fleece scoring, the Victory club went ahead again. A ball from Smiles out to the left should have been dealt with by the Fleece right back but he had his pocket picked by Chris Fisher. He cut in from the wing and cleverly waited for the Fleece keeper to go ground before lifting the ball over him and into the roof of the net. That goal was Fisher’s third goal in three games and also saw him join Smiles at the top of the scoring charts.
Once again, the Victory failed to hang on to their advantage for long as with around thirty five minutes on the watch, the Fleece equalised for a second time. A ball down the Fleece right, should have been cleared by Dryden but the Victory left back dallied hoping the ball would go out for a throw in. This proved to be fatal as it allowed a Fleece player to nip in and sprint clear. As he entered the box the Fleece attacker looked up and pulled the ball back to an oncoming team-mate who stroked the ball past a helpless Swan and into the back of the net.
Disaster struck for the Victory a minute before the half time interval when Silksworth Fleece completed the turn around and went ahead. A malfunctioning Victory Club offside trap got it wrong and allowed the Fleece forward a clear run on goal. As with the first Fleece goal, Swan saved the initial attempt but once more the ball ran kindly for the Fleece and from the follow up the ball was smacked past Swan at his near post.
Despite, trailing at the break the Victory could overall be fairly pleased with their first half efforts but would rue the manner in which they had conceded the three goals. Rodgers tried to rally his troops by delving into his literature archives likening the first half display to Jekyll and Hyde.
The second half began badly for the men in green as only eight minutes in they found themselves two goals behind. The Fleece left winger managed to wriggle free and his cross found one of his forwards in the middle who coolly side footed the ball into the corner of the net despite the best interests of Dryden and Davison on the line.
Moments after conceding the fourth goal, Rodgers responded by throwing on Peter Harding and Stephen Robson for a tired looking, Chris Fisher, and an injured, Mark Dryden.
Just before the hour mark and the Victory gave themselves hope when they reduced their arrears back to one when Steve Jackson scored the goal of the game. There seemed to be little on when Jackson received the ball from Smiles about twenty five yards from goal. The Victory man had other ideas though as he took aim and fired. The shot was an absolute howitzer and flew at speed over the helpless Fleece goalkeeper and right into the top right corner of the net. It was a goal that would not look out of place on Match of the Day’s goal of the month competition and almost certainly the best goal Jackson has scored in his fledgling career to date.
While the Victory were looking a threat going forward their backline did not look very solid at all. Bunyan, at the heart of the defence was having a shocker for the second week running and unless a miracle happens he will surely lose his place for next week’s games. To further weaken the defence, Greg Davison limped off with an ankle injury with just over twenty five minutes remaining. Simon Mountford came on in his place.
A couple of minutes after the loss of Davison, the Victory conceded for a fifth time and once again the finger of blame could be pointed in the direction of the seriously out of form Bunyan. His weak attempt at a clearance fell straight to a Fleece player and he rifled a shot past Swan from just outside the edge of the box. It would not be wrong to say that Bunyan, also at the heart of the offside trap problems in the first half, had probably made more mistakes in this game than he had made tackles.
Harding almost got the Victory back in the game but he was incredibly unlucky to see his shot hit the angle of post and crossbar after he had been put through on goal.
With thirteen minutes remaining, Silksworth Fleece made the game safe as they went 6-3 in front. A long ball over the top saw Bunyan’s fruitless attempts to play offside fail again. This allowed a Fleece forward to scamper clear unopposed and, despite being clattered by Swan after he had stabbed the ball goal wards, managed to poke the ball home.
A minute later and Swan was then booked by referee, Robin Raymond, for ‘adopting an aggressive attitude’ after he took exception to a Fleece player stamping on his arm as he attempted to follow up a shot that Swan had saved diving to his left. Incredibly, though the Silksworth player escaped any punishment – the referee not even deeming his offence to warrant a quiet word.
The roof was fast falling in for the men in green and with seven minutes left Silksworth Fleece scored for a seventh time. A long throw in from level with the penalty spot travelled all the way to the back post where four players all jumped up together for it. Who got the final touch was hard to say but the ball dribbled into the net. The Silksworth captain, the smallest player on the pitch, ran away with his arm aloft claiming the goal.
Salt was further rubbed into the wounds as with the final kick of the game, Silksworth Fleece made the final score 8-3. A shot from just outside the area was fumbled into his own net by the unfortunate Swan, who despite conceding seven goals before that one had made a number of good saves and played pretty well.
At the final whistle the Victory players slumped off in the knowledge that their League Cup campaign for the 2010/2011 season was over. No doubt the inquests will once again begin as to why for the second week running the team competed so well for sixty minutes but then fell away so badly in the last half an hour. If the Victory thought this week was difficult then things are only going to get even harder as next week the Victory, on their return to league action, face a trip to Hylton Road to play Sunderland Athletic, who currently sit fourth in Division Two and boast the division’s top goal scorer in their ranks.
