28/04/11: Southwick FC (5) v (0) The Victory Club
Scorers: None
Team: Swan (GK), Lewis (Davison), Rodgers, Hudson, Bunyan, Robson, Harding, Lamb (c) (Stores), M. Dryden, Hunter (Fisher), Smiles
Unused Subs: Mountford
Yellows: None
Reds: None
A dreadful second half showing by the Victory saw Southwick FC cruise to a 5-0 win to keep alive their Division Two title hopes. Despite trailing only 1-0 at the half time interval the Victory provided a perfect lesson in how to press the self destruct button as they totally capitulated during the second forty five.
The Victory made a single change to the starting line up drafting in Nathan Hudson in place of Greg Davison who did not make it back from work in time from kick off. Davison, who ended up arriving five minutes late, was joined on the subs bench by Simon Mountford who had returned from Germany but there was no place in the squad for Anth Collins as he sat out the first game of his two match ban.
The Victory found themselves on the back foot from the word go but despite some nice passing football from Southwick they struggled to break the Victory defence down.
The home side almost took the lead on the twenty minute mark but Swan made a good low save to keep a shot out that had taken a double deflection first off Bunyan and then off Dryden.
In fact it wasn’t until the half hour mark that Southwick’s pressure finally paid and they went ahead. Following a long ball forward by a Southwick player, Jonny Lewis attempted to cushion a header back to his keeper from just inside his own box. However, the Victory right back was then forced to watch in horror as his header evaded the oncoming Swan and dribbled into the bottom right hand corner of the net. The Southwick touchline went wild scarcely believing the lucky break they had just been given.
Shortly before half time and Southwick nearly doubled their advantage but Swan made a fine save diving away to his left to push a powerful header round his post and out for a corner.
At the break, despite being under the cosh for most of the first period, the Victory were only one behind and still very much in the game.
Ten minutes into the second half and disaster struck as Southwick went two goals clear. Stephen Robson was harshly penalised for a foul just outside the edge of the box despite the fact that the Victory left back appeared to win the ball fairly. From the resulting free kick the ball was swung into the Victory area right footed where it was met by a Southwick player on the penalty spot who bulleted a header past Swan and into the net.
A couple of minutes later and things got even worse for the Victory as they conceded a third goal. A Southwick player scampered clear down the left and crossed the ball into the box. A horrible bounce saw Bunyan miss the ball as he attempted to deal with the cross and it fell for an oncoming Southwick player who took one touch to steady himself before firing in a shot which took a wicked bounce over Swan’s outstretched hand as he tried to save it.
Southwick were now flying and just after the hour mark they scored for a fourth time. A long punt forward was not dealt with initially by Bunyan and this allowed one of the Southwick forwards a chance to run on goal. Bunyan though got back and managed to put in some sort of a block as the player shot. This however sent the ball spinning wildly towards Swan and as the Victory keeper came out to collect the ball he was beaten to it by another Southwick player who was left with the simple task of poking the ball into the empty net.
With around twenty minutes remaining, Lee Hermiston made a triple substitution bringing off Scott Hunter, Graham Lamb and Jonny Lewis and replacing them with Greg Davison, Chris Fisher and Ben Stores.
One of the substitutes was almost immediately right in the thick of the action but he probably wished he wasn’t as another poor refereeing decision saw Davison have a penalty given against him. As the Victory captain and his opponent battled for the ball inside the area the referee deemed that Davison had pulled his opponents shirt. It was an extremely soft penalty award and even some of the Southwick players seemed a bit shocked when the referee pointed to the spot. From the resulting penalty though, Southwick showed no remorse and one of their substitutes drilled the ball into the net as Swan dived the other way.
The Southwick goalkeeper for the second time against the Victory this season had barely needed to dirty his gloves but he did show that he was still awake when he saved two Chris Fisher opportunities inside a rare five minute spell of Victory pressure. The second of those chances should really have been taken.
In the final few minutes, Southwick almost made it six but for once the Victory got a decision which went in their favour as the referee rightly ruled out a goal for offside.
At the final whistle, the Victory players trooped off no doubt disappointed and a shade embarrassed at their second half capitulation. Manager, Lee Hermiston, faces a difficult challenge to pick his players back up for the next game on Sunday when Oddies visit the Fulwell Mill Arena in what is the Victory’s final home match of the campaign.
