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Photos: Jack Western
Goodricke pulled off something of a shock in the opening match of the College Cup season, beating a fancied Derwent side in a thrilling match 3-2. In suitably atrocious conditions on 22 acres, Goodricke staged an incredibly attacking and resilient performance beating a highly skilful but sometimes defensively suspect Derwent.
The match began with Derwent very much on the offensive. However, this didn’t last long as Joe Mann had a great chance to open the scoring, but he couldn’t connect with the pass from captain Jon Gillbanks. Both sides were very evenly matched and went out playing physical, attacking football, leaving both exposed at the back. Derwent had the best of the early chances and appeared to be more penetrating than Goodricke, but Goodricke were immensely dangerous on the break, with Mann particularly deadly in this repect. Mirhire Overo-Tarimo had a great change to open the scoring but shot wide. Almost immediately Mann had an excellent chance at the other end to score, but his shot bounced wide.
The match continued apace with Derwent upping the ante. Ryan Gwinnett and Jamie Trant both had excellent chances to score but shot at the keeper. Fresher Eddie Fotheringham was particularly dangerous on the left wing, and Ovrebo- Tarimo made some excellent runs, but wasn’t quite able to make the killer lay-off. Just before half time the pressure showed and Derwent snatched the lead, Jamie Trant went on a great solo run, and his cross was met by Fotheringham who coolly slotted it home. However immediately afterwards, out of nowhere, Goodricke equalised, with Joe Mann scoring an absolute peach of goal, a beautiful long-range curving shot that fooled the keeper. As a result both teams went in at half time level.
If the first half was good, the second was another level altogether. By now the rain now driving down, but this had absolutely no effect on the standard of play. The half started frenetically with the ever dangerous Overo-Tarimo having a decent chance, shooting at the keeper. Joe Mann then had good chance for Goodricke, but once again his shot was parried away by the keeper. A speculative long range effort from Gillbanks was not far away as Goodricke were fancying their chances from long-range. Mann also fancied his chances of a repeat performance, his beautiful chipped shot didn’t fool the keeper this time though.
Both teams were absolutely on the limit of their abilities, with both teams so stretched in attack, the tackling became harder and increasingly last ditch. It was inevitable that the pressure was going to tell. Derwent were awarded a corner, which Olly Harrison took, in the ensuing melee Tom Brandreth strongly headed the ball home for Derwents second.
For a short period it seemed that the match was settled with the favoured Derwent side firmly in control. The match seemed to calm down a little as well, however this was a false dawn as the Goodricke side doggedly dug in and refused to give up. With nothing to lose Goodricke piled forward, Gillbanks, with a wonderful piece of skill set up Sam Cottingham who calmly slotted the ball dead-straight into the centre of the net.
From then the match became even more manic with both sides desperately probing for the winner. What can best be described as ‘agricultural’ challenges were going in all over the pitch, a monumental clash sent both players absolutely flying and led to a Goodricke free kick. The resulting set-piece was beautifully taken by Gillbanks, who smashed it past the keeper Goodricke’s third and Goodricke’s second from a set piece, perhaps illustrating a rare lack of concentration in the highly skilful and experienced Derwent side.
The final fifteen minutes continued to be frenetic as Derwent searched for the equaliser. Jamie Trant had a good chance, but shot wide. Derwent kept pushing till the last, but still had to be wary of Goodricke’s counter attacking abilities. Ovrebo-Tarimo had two great chances at the last, shooting at the keeper, and missing the rebound. However Derwent were unable to break through, earning Goodricke a fantastic win.
Derwent captain Dave Belshaw was unhappy with his side’s performance, commenting; “I’ve just spoken with the boys. We’ve got top players, we’ve got experienced players. But losing our concentration for set pieces like that is unacceptable. We know we had the players out there to win today. We should have won the game, we had the chances but the concentration at both ends of the field and in the final third wasn’t good enough”.
His opposite number Jon Gillbanks told Vision “Great performance, I can’t fault that, all the lads were superb, especially in the second half. We had four fresher’s, all whom were great, we’re really confident for the season ahead”.
MOTM- James Lewis