13/03/11: The Golden Lion FC. (2) v (0) The Victory Club
Scorers: None
Team: Swan (GK), Hudson, Bunyan, Davison (c), Lewis, Mountford (Jackson), Collins (Rodgers), Lamb, Robson, Harding, Smiles
Unused Subs: M. Dryden, Fisher, Stores
Yellows: Collins, Davison
Reds: None
The Victory failed miserably in their revenge mission against The Golden Lion FC as an awful performance saw them slip to a 2-0 defeat in a game extremely low on quality.
Despite heavy rain in the 48 hours leading up to the game the pitch was surprisingly in reasonable condition so the game went ahead.
Lee Hermiston reverted back to a 4-4-2 formation and made a solitary personnel change from the side that pushed Sunderland Athletic all the way seven days ago, recalling the available again, James Smiles, in place of Chris Fisher. Fisher, sporting a cracking shiner underneath his left eye, took his place on the bench alongside Alex Rodgers and the returning trio of Mark Dryden, Steve Jackson and Ben Stores. Scott Hunter was ruled out with what a team-mate, struggling to hide his amusement, described as a tickly cough.
The game started slowly with both teams struggling to put any move of note together. The wet conditions ensured that sliding tackles were very much on the agenda something which Victory midfielder Anth Collins was particularly relishing the prospect of.
It wasn’t until around the quarter of an hour mark that the first decent effort on goal was had. A strike from distance by a Golden Lion player was parried wide by Swan – a good save given the ball bounced and kicked up just in front of him.
The Victory were becoming more and more frustrated whenever they went forward as the referee kept giving offside decisions in favour of the Golden Lion back four.
Then, with around twenty five minutes gone the deadlock was broken as the Victory’s problems defending set pieces resurfaced once again. A corner from the right was allowed to drift all the way to the back post where Golden Lion’s tallest player had escaped his marker and he bulleted a header into the net from close range despite the best efforts of Robson to head the ball off his own goal line. In a game such as this the first goal was a crucial one and it meant the Victory now had work to do.
Shortly after the goal, Anth Collins was cautioned by referee, Derek Callaghan, following a robust challenge just inside his own half. Collins won the ball but the referee was clearly unimpressed by the forceful nature of his tackle. The Victory midfielder, seemingly still pumped full of adrenaline after a rumoured appearance at the Justin Bieber concert the night before, continued to back chat the match official and was in serious danger of receiving a second yellow card but thankfully he was pulled away by a team-mate before he could talk himself into any more trouble.
Following a good little interchange between Smiles and Robson the ball was laid off to Simon Mountford about twenty five yards from goal but sadly for the men in red his shot resembled more of a back pass as it dribbled along the floor before being collected by the keeper.
With ten minutes of the first half remaining, The Golden Lion almost doubled their advantage but this time Stephen Robson was able to clear the effort off the line and away to safety.
As the first half drew towards a close, the Victory won a free kick on the edge of the area when Smiles was fouled by a Golden Lion defender. Despite Stephen Robson scoring from a similar position last week, Peter Harding took over responsibilities for the dead ball kick but his effort went straight into the five man wall.
At the interval, the Victory were left to reflect on one of their worst first half displays of the season but knew they were still very much in the game and if they could lift their performances in the second period then the game was there for the taking.
The second half continued in a similar vein to the first with both teams guilty of some sloppy passing and needlessly giving the ball away.
The Victory were really struggling and the Golden Lion keeper had barely had to get his gloves dirty yet.
Meanwhile, at the other end Swan was having a relatively quiet game as well although he did make a fine reaction save to deny a crisp volley from just outside the edge of the box.
Anth Collins, who was now one foul away from a probable red card, just managed to time a sliding tackle right as a Golden Lion player scampered away down the right wing. The opposition touchline went up in arms screaming at the ref to send him off but the referee deemed correctly that the Victory player had got the ball.
Then, on the hour mark the Golden Lion doubled their advantage. Once again the Victory had only themselves to blame as another right wing corner lead to the goal. The ball was delivered into the near post where the same player who scored the first goal flicked the ball on and Bunyan was unable to react quick enough to clear the ball off the line at the far post – the ball striking the Victory defender on the left hip before bouncing into the net.
In the moments after going two behind, Hermiston made two changes bringing on Steve Jackson and Alex Rodgers for Simon Mountford and Anth Collins as he sought to inject fresh impetus.
Still the Victory found the going tough although not helped by some strange offside decisions given by the referee who seemed to be going on the shouts from the touchline. This infuriated the Victory manager, who found his voice and launched into a tirade of abuse towards the match official. Mr. Callaghan didn’t take too kindly to this and promptly ejected Hermiston from the ground.
It wasn’t just off the field that people were getting annoyed. Greg Davison, took his protestations too far following another dodgy offside call and was yellow carded by the referee, who was fast losing his grip on the game.
Swan made another smart save to keep the gap at two when he dived away to his left to tip a header round the post while Bunyan got back to make a goal saving tackle when the nippy Golden Lion substitute had been put clear on goal.
It wasn’t until the final ten minutes or so that the Victory finally made an impression going forward. Smiles found himself one on one but unusually got caught in two minds when it came to shooting and he put his right foot shot over the bar. Maybe Smiles was too busy thinking where to take his other half out for dinner that afternoon however only he knows if that was the case.
Peter Harding also had a chance but despite him managing to slide the ball past the oncoming keeper a defender was well placed to hack the ball away as it rolled towards the goal.
The final whistle though couldn’t come soon enough for the men in red and when it duly sounded the Golden Lion players celebrated what to them was a massive three points. The Victory lads will all need to have a good long hard look at themselves as that performance was unacceptable. Next week the Victory will hope to put things right as they travel to Downhill to play TEF Workingmens Club. In the reverse fixture earlier in the season the Victory came out on top by two goals to one and will be hoping for a repeat result this time out as well.
