Victory Club 1-4 Washington River Bar
The Victory stepped another game closer to relegation last Sunday as they once again shot themselves in the foot to lose against River Bar.
As the season has drawn on injuries and holidays struck the squad again with Nathan Hudson, Lee Skelland and Alan Tench all joining long term absentee Graham Lamb on the sidelines plus Andrew Hodgson and Rob Timm were away on holiday.
The game kicked off 15 minutes late due to a late change of referee Colin Sotres replacing Ron Alcock. The game started very poorly with neither side able to get a foot hold in the game, the first opportunity fell to the Victory and Scott Hunter who scuffed his shot horribly wide whilst going through clear on goal.
The move was to almost prove and would evetually be costly as River Bar went straight down the other end and narrowly missed the target. From an offside decision Lewis Swan took a free kick just to the right of the box and although the kick was more than adequate River Bar won the header and that in turn put their forwards in the clear and as Ian Ray was left struggling for pace the forward expertly lifted the ball over Swan from 20 yards.
The second goal followed moments later when the Victory allowed the River Bar to take a quick throw straight in behind the Victory backline which allowed the forward to wrap the ball around the helpless Swan into the far corner of the net. Moments it was de ja vu but this time Swan was at his best to tip the ball onto the post and smother the re-bound.
Half Time
The Victory somehow were only 2-0 down but in fairness River Bar were not playing to full potential so Steve Jackson furiously ripped into his players at the break and asked for more commitment from some of his players.
The second half started very much in the same fashion with Swan twice having to deny the attackers with smart saves.
As the River Bar pushed for the third goal and almighty goalmouth scramble insued with Swan twice denying with shots from only four yards repectively then the third shot was blocked by Jonny Lewis and Alex Rodgers on the line, by the end of all this the goalmouth looked more like a mud bath than a football pitch.
The third goal evetually arrived from the penalty spot Swan bringing down a River Bar player and the penalty was converted low to the 'keepers right. Almost straight after the fourth and final River Bar goal was scored, again Swan saved a shot but the ball only was half cleared and again a River Bar player reacted quickest to smash the ball high into the net from 20 yards.
The Victory did manage to score their first goal of 2012! The River Bar 'keeper scuffed his clearance which allowed Anth Collins to latch onto the loose ball and side foot it low past the retreating 'keeper. That was his first goal for the club but was hardly celebrated such is it's irrelevence to the overall season and match.
Just one more note of controversy was Greg Davison who decided to trip a River Bar player and he and his teammates got round Davison who just laughed it off as pathetic handbags. But the Vics skipper did end up in the notebook for his troubles.
Full Time
