Goodricke 1sts took their chances in front of goal to defeat Vanbrugh 4-0 in order to top the group at the end of Week 4. A win was needed for Vanbrugh 3rds to have any chance of qualification, but it was Goodricke who dealt the first blow after only five minutes. Ben Smith split the defence allowing Jon Sharpe to run on through and beat the keeper with a cheeky lob that nestled in the top left of the goal. It was the pace of Sharpe that surprised the Vanbrugh centre back pairing of Arne Bartelsman and Dan Shepherd. The Vanbrugh rear guard learnt from their earlier error. Arne Bartelsman showed signs of his Dutch ancestry by marshalling the defence and was equal to Jon Sharpe on the strikers’ next forays up field. Vanbrugh had a shot of their own, however Sam Taylor’s speculative effort from 30 yards didn’t trouble Ed Foster in goal.
Vanbrugh would have been pleased to end the half with only a 1 goal deficit if it wasn’t for a match-changing intervention from Rob Shanley. The Goodricke midfielder, who’d had a physical game so far, got the better of a 50/50 challenge; he then produced a perfectly timed through-ball which found captain Sam Lewis, who finished with aplomb by angling his shot into the right hand side of Tom Williams’ net. Initially, celebrations were subdued as the ball had gone through the side netting and could have been mistaken for a goal kick; but the referee confirmed the goal and the score at half time was 2-0.
Like the first half, it was Goodricke who started stronger. It was a hopeful Stu Dunk punt which found its way to Sam Lewis. The Goodricke winger skipped past George Barnard then unleashed a powerful drive into the top left corner of the net.
Vanbrugh, on the other hand, were having no luck against a dogged Goodricke defence. It was telling when Alex Willings had the first shot on target with a curling effort from 25 yards midway through the second half. Alas, it was just not their day as Mike Sutcliffe endured what no footballer wants to experience by scoring an own goal; under pressure from a Sam Lewis cross, the defender chested the ball into his own net. The game ended 4-0 to Goodricke, allowing the team to leap-frog over Derwent 2nds to take first place as, surprisingly, Derwent lost earlier in the day to James 3rds. Sam Lewis Goodricke captain admitted that it was “not his sides best performance” but they had “done enough to win”. Vanbrugh’s Andy Dakin was “proud of his how his side played to today” and praised defender Arne Bartelsman.
Vision’s Man of the Match: Rob Shanley controlled the game’s play and was the linchpin between Goodricke’s defence and attack.
It wasn’t my college cup debut! I have already played two games for the 4’s, I’m also 6ft 4, you were just far away
Apologies Mike, it was only in relative terms to your fellow defensive partners who must then be approaching 7 ft! I was going by information on the touchline so it maybe should have read debut for Vanbrugh 3rds my error. Good luck in the rest of the tournament.
I don’t care Oliver. I just do not care.