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Photos: Philip Mourdijs
Following the holidays and two weeks of cancellations due to snow, Vanbrugh resumed their season with a physical win over Goodricke without ever really playing their best.
Vanbrugh started strongly, enjoying most of the possession in the early period with the ball almost permanently camped in the Goodricke half. The deadlock was broken in the 12th minute when Elliot Rous-Ross made a stunning curving strike to confound the keeper in a brilliantly worked goal.
Goodricke did manage to get a foothold in the half as time went on, but they struggled to convert this into any meaningful chances, often a promising run would be stymied by indecisiveness in the box or more likely the breaker would have no one to pass to; Kallum Taylor in the Vanbrugh goal did not have a particularly stressful first 45 minutes.
Vanbrugh were generally in control of the match, they appeared to be stronger, more incisive, creative and penetrating than a strangely lethargic Goodricke side who sat much too deep most of the time to constitute a serious threat.
Despite this dominance Vanbrugh were unable to extend their lead, so the match remained finely poised. Goodricke had a strong penalty appeal for handball turned down by the referee which could have evened the score. Although the match was often not of the highest quality and both teams seemed to be below their average level of fluency, this is probably to be expected considering the long break and state of the 22 Acres pitch.
The second half was a very different affair with the momentum with Goodricke who seemed to have gained a new lease of life, especially as the half went on. At some stages it seemed that it was all Goodricke, the key player in this was captain Joe Mann who seemed to be the instigator of most of Goodricke’s attacks and went through periods of brilliance where it appeared no one could take the ball off him.
Despite this revival in many ways it was the same story for Goodricke who struggled to convert their dominance in possession into concrete chances, so often a brilliant break would completely fizzle out due to lack of support or poor choices in front of goal.
However, this should not downplay the excellence in defence of Vanbrugh who despite not being at their fluent best half were resolute in defence and still dangerous on the counter attack. The inability of Goodricke to score was as much down to Vanbrugh’s efficiency and composure than to Goodricke’s lack of penetration. Instrumental to this was captain Jonny Grout who was exceptional in the midfield in both a defensive and attacking capacity.
As the final whistle approached Goodricke began to seriously apply the pressure, and it could be said for the first time had dominance over the match. But by doing this they left themselves exposed at the back and this was brilliantly capitalised on by Vanbrugh in the 80th minute. Out of nowhere, they countered at lightning speed to leave the Goodricke defence flailing, a excellent cross from John Sanderon resulted in a relatively easy finish coolly taken by Rous- Ross for his second goal of the game to put the match beyond doubt.
Goodricke captain Joe Mann was relatively happy with his sides performance that “we more than matched them with a lot of our first string out, so all in all there are a lot of positives to take from the match” although he did admit that fitness was an issue for his side after such a long break.
Vanbrugh captain Grout said: “We were solid today; I thought we were good value for the win. Obviously they put us under a lot of pressure, particularly in the second half but I thought if we kept things tight we’d grab another, which we did, it was a good victory for us”.
Man of the Match
Kieran O’Dwyer