03/04/11: Sunderland Athletic (0) v (0) The Victory Club
Scorers: None
Team: Rodgers (GK), Mountford (Fisher), Hudson, Davison (c), Bunyan, Robson, Harding, Collins (Lewis), M. Dryden, Smiles, Stores (Hunter)
Unused Subs: None
Yellows: None
Reds: None
The Victory Club surprised the football world as they travelled to Hylton Road and left with a point after a resolute display saw them hold third placed side, Sunderland Athletic, to a goalless draw.
Lee Hermiston, was faced with a selection quandary in the lead up to the game as a number of the players who missed Thursdays game were available once again. Having selected his starting line up, Hermiston suffered a blow when goalkeeper, Lewis Swan, injured the previous day playing rugby, decided after going through his warm up that he was not fit enough to play. This meant that Alex Rodgers would take over the gloves and play in goal. The back five remained in tact although captain, Greg Davison, returned to take Rodgers’ place as one of the three centre halves. In midfield James Smiles replaced the Victory manager himself on the left wing while there was also a shock selection of Mark Dryden to partner Anth Collins in the midfield engine room.
The Victory, kicking up the hill, started positively and had their opponents on the back foot in the early stages.
With only five minutes on the watch, the Victory almost went ahead. A Victory effort on goal was deflected into the path of Ben Stores and he hit a crisp right foot half volley which was heading straight for the bottom right hand corner. That was until the Sunderland Athletic left back just got a touch to the shot and diverted it agonisingly wide of the upright.
Sunderland Athletic were struggling to string their passes together and seemed intent on trying to play long ball football. With the Victory penalty area resembling a slab of concrete that was not the worst thing to do and it almost worked as a long punt forward nearly bounced over Rodgers and into the net but thankfully for the men in red the ball just cleared the crossbar.
As the first half reached its midway point it was very much an even game.
Anth Collins was then fortunate to escape yet another yellow card when he cleaned out a Sunderland Athletic player just outside the box. From the resulting free kick Sunderland Athletic came close to taking the lead. The ball was curled in left footed and Rodgers appeared initially to have run straight past the shot but then out of nowhere he threw up a right hand and pushed the ball over the crossbar and out for a corner.
The Victory continued to defend solidly and were a threat on the counter attack. Leading scorer, James Smiles, lashed a shot over the bar and into the houses behind the goal.
Greg Davison then hit the crossbar. After a long throw in was headed back out to him on the left wing he took the ball down on his chest and then lobbed it back towards the goal. Time seemed to stand still as the ball sailed through the air before hitting the top of the bar and bouncing away to safety. Cross or shot no one was sure although it is important to mention that Davison had been practicing those sort of Niall Quinn efforts in the warm up.
Sunderland Athletic were clearly becoming more and more frustrated and resorted to appealing for virtually anything. Referee, Lee Brennan, rightly turned down two penalty appeals in the space of a minute when Sunderland Athletic went up in arms for handball.
As the half time whistle sounded, the Victory could be delighted with their efforts but knew they would need to replicate that in the second half if they were to get anything out of the game.
After ten minutes of the second half, Lee Hermiston made his first change with Ben Stores coming off and Scott Hunter coming on. One of Hunter’s first contributions was to let a pass from Robson go straight under his foot and out for a throw in.
Alex Rodgers, in the Victory goal, was having a fairly quiet game but he almost gifted the opening goal to the opposition when he came out for a high ball but took his eyes off it, no doubt concerned that he was going to get clattered by the oncoming centre forward. Thankfully, though Greg Davison was alert to the danger and was well positioned to hack away the loose ball.
Just after the hour mark the Victory suffered a double injury blow when within a couple of minutes of each other Anth Collins (groin) and Simon Mountford (foot) were forced off. Jonny Lewis and Chris Fisher took their places.
With fifteen minutes remaining, the Victory again went close to breaking the deadlock. A superb free kick by Robson from twenty five yards had the Sunderland Athletic keeper beaten but to his and his team-mates disappointment the ball cannoned back off the crossbar.
Sunderland Athletic, still seeking the three points to aid their promotion challenge, continued to push forward but Mark Dryden, who was having an excellent game in an unfamiliar midfield holding role was breaking things up quite nicely.
Despite, Sunderland Athletic enjoying more possession, the Victory looked the more likely to snatch a late winner. Two good headed chances fell to substitute Fisher but the first one was straight at the keeper while the second effort flew narrowly over the bar.
In the final stages the Victory were forced to dig in defensively. As had been the case throughout the game on the rare occasions that a Sunderland Athletic player did escape their marker there was another Victory player to come across and snuff out the danger. Stephen Robson made an outstanding block on the edge of the box while Peter Harding made a vital clearance from inside the six yard box to ensure that the Victory did indeed hold out.
The Victory players and supporters celebrated at the final whistle. Not many had given the Victory a chance of getting something out of the game before kick off but they had been well and truly proved wrong. Once again the famous five formation in defence had proved to be effective in nullifying the opposition’s threat. Man of the match went to James Smiles but special mention must go to Mark Dryden, who put in a cracking performance in the centre of midfield. Manager, Lee Hermiston, struggling to hide his delight when interviewed afterwards said ‘Today was an excellent result and performance by the lads with everybody working their socks off. There were fourteen men of the matches out their today and all of them were wearing red.’ Next up for the men in red is Hunters Lodge at the Fulwell Mill Arena this coming Thursday where the Victory will hope to turn in a better performance than they did in the reverse fixture which they lost 2-1.
