[visiongallery set=72157629891151080]
Photos: Vivan Jayant
Vanbrugh 2nds produced an impressive performance to overpower Wentworth 2nds, after taking an early lead. Wentworth were lucky to level the scores before the break, but the second half belonged to Vanburgh who saw off their opponents in style.
Without a cloud in the sky, the match kicked off on the astro in blazing sunshine. The opening encounters proved fairly even, with the Wentworth defence holding out well against Vanbrugh’s advances and both teams sharing possession quite equally.
However it wasn’t long before Vanbrugh were ahead. John Sanderson’s cross was well met by Tom Parish’s head, which buried the ball in the bottom-left hand corner. Despite the lack of pace on Parish’s effort it was beyond the grasp of the Wentworth keeper, who picked the ball out of the back of his own net, his team a goal down after no more than ten minutes.
But Wentworth weren’t down-hearted by going behind and continued to match Vanbrugh’s commitment. Soon after the goal they worked the ball up the field well, winning a throw-in on the right, deep into the Vanbrugh half.
Rich Rhodes took the long throw which was very threatening – the Vanbrugh goalkeeper Tom Williams jumped to try to meet it but it was too high for him sailing over his head and into a dangerous position in front of goal. The Wentworth striking force was not however on hand to capitalise, and the ball flew across the face of goal and out, as one of Wentworth’s best chances went begging.
Wentworth started to get more into the game, but were frustrated at times, culminating in the booking of centre-back Mark Eslick for a foul on Sanderson down the right wing. The resulting free kick was wasted by Vanburgh.
The pressure from Wentworth paid off with the side levelling the scores just before half-time with a lucky goal. A scramble in the box resulted in Andrea Marcheggiano fumbling the ball into the net from close range. So they went into the break the scores level, reflecting a fairly even half.
Vanbrugh started the second half well, almost immediately drawing ahead from a goal not dissimilar to their opponents’ before the break. A corner lead to another scrap in the penalty area, with Max Poynter-Hall claiming responsibility when the ball eventually ended up in the back of the net.
After Vanbrugh’s second goal, Wentworth started to fade away, with one of their only efforts of the half being Nick Townson’s ambitious lofted shot from his own half which sailed just over the crossbar.
Vanbrugh continued to dominate, playing some great football, and it was only a matter of time before they doubled their lead. It was certainly in a much more pleasing way than their previous goal in which they did so. Another cross from Sanderson gave him his second assist of the match, playing in Poynter-Hall whose powerful header earned him his second goal, and Vanbrugh’s third.
The remainder of the match belonged to Vanbrugh, with one of the only pieces of action in their own penalty area being a dubious penalty shout after Murray was bundled to the floor. The referee was right to wave play on.
An attempt to grab a hat-trick by Poynter-Hall was unsuccessful late on when he found acres of space and forced a good save high to the Wentworth keeper’s left after a shot from far out. Vanburgh then saw the game out, being in full control until the final whistle.
Captain Paul O’Beirne said he was pleased with his team’s performance: “I think there were a few more goals in it for us and their goal was very lucky but I’m really pleased with the improvement we’ve shown throughout this tournament.”
Vision MOTM: Max Poynter Hall
By the way, its not vanburgh- its vanbrugh..