Victory Club 0-5 Willow Pond
Sunday's game brought bottom vs top in the second division together with an earlier kick off time of 9:45am due to Sunderland's cup tie.
The game passed a early morning pitch inspection the referee deeming the pitch to be suitable for a game of football despite it been slightly frozen.
Before the game a minutes silence was held for Paul Johnstone (former Willow Pond Secretary) who sadly passed away last week.
The game finally got under way with Steve Jackson deciding to change formation to 4-4-2 with Alan Tench replacing Scott Hunter and Simon Mountford replacing Jonny Lewis at Right Back. It wasn't long though before the Victory were under pressure and after failing to clear their lines, Peter Harding needlessly conceded a penalty by barging straight into the back of the Willow Pond player - the penalty was converted and the Victory faced an uphill battle after just 4 minutes.
It was soon to get worse as the Victory fell two behind after losing the ball on the half way line Willow Pond broke three on two and the simple layoff was despatched high into the top corner beyond Swan, a criminal goal to give away after only 12 minutes.
Two more chances followed and Swan was at his best to keep the Victory in the game firstly a smart smothering save at the feet of the attacker then a superb one handed reflex save from only four yards.
The Victory decided to have a go and top goalscorer Greg Davison went close on two occasions firstly a direct free kick which clipped the post and the second a bullet header which he will feel he probably should have done better with, putting it over from six yards.
The visitors had another effort before the break but again Swan was there to tip the ball over the bar.
Half Time
Jackson wasn't too impressed with the first half display and replaced Peter Harding who wasn't having one of his better days with Scott Hunter.
The half started well and Hunter's cross found Snowdon in the box but he planted his header wide.
Willow Pond though soon got back into the swing of things and went close through two efforts, the first denied by a superb sliding tackle by Anth Collins who was superb throughout the game in the middle of the park and the second forcing a great save from Swan. The reprieve didn't last long and again the Victory lost the ball and were punished, as a slide through ball caught Simon Mountford the wrong side defensively and the Willow Pond forward smashed the shot low into the corner to seal the points 30 mins from time.
Victory responded by sending on Andrew Hodgson for a debut, and a superb jinking run by him set up Alan Tench but the Victory man could only screw his shot wide. The Victory pushed on and Anth Collins had shot blocked and Tench's rebound was superbly saved by the goalkeeper. From the resulting corner the Victory conceded again, by leaving themselves short at the back and the counter attack was tapped beyond Swan from 4 yards to make the score 4-0 to the visitors.
Skipper Greg Davison was replaced 20 mins from time handing the armband to Alex Rodgers, Ben Stores (his replacement) superbly set up Michael Snowdon, with a "Cruyff" turn, but again the Willow Pond 'keeper did well the to foil the shot.
In the final ten a fifth was added late on as Rodgers' tackle set up the Willow Pond attacker who slipped the ball beyond 'keeper Swan.
At the full time whistle the 5-0 scoreline may have been a bit harsh on the Victory, but if you keep making errors defensively and don't provide your forwards with any real service you are going to constantly struggle. From this game only the Goalkeeper Lewis Swan and Midfielder Anth Collins can be happy with their displays, the rest of the squad will have to buck their ideas up before the next game against Kings Arms, next Sunday.
