Vanbrugh 1sts kicked off their campaign for the College Cup title in style, as the men in red and blue cruised past a hard-working Derwent 3rds outfit with goals from Ziggy Heath, John Gill and Rory Sharkey.
Vanbrugh’s ferocious start gave Derwent, a mountain from the early stages, but to their credit the underdogs held their own for much of the second half.
Derwent were given a serious warning after just 20 seconds. Straight from the kick-off, Gill lofted a pass to Elliot Rous-Ross, but the striker’s attempt to lob ‘keeper Sam Colclough from an awkward bouncing ball was comfortably saved.
However, a minute later, Vanbrugh did take the lead. A throw-in on the right was launched into the area by Gill, and Heath found himself unmarked six yards out to simply slot the ball home.
Then to everyone’s amazement, Vanbrugh had their third major chance in as many minutes, as Rory Sharkey’s free kick wide on the left slammed the face of the crossbar with Colclough completely beaten.
Remarkably, an almost identical scenario occurred at the opposite end of the pitch. Joe Eyles’ left-wing free kick flew over a motionless James Wilson and smashed the bar, before Vanbrugh cleared the rebound to safety.
After this chaotic start, Vanbrugh started to settle into their passing rhythm with some neat and tidy touches in midfield from the central pairing of Phil Taylor and Kieran O’Dwyer.
Balls into the box were causing Derwent defenders problems as the Vanbrugh wingers received the ball time and again.
On one occasion, despite the referee blowing for a foul, Colclough produced a magnificent one-handed save to deny Ben Stanier after Sharkey’s cross caused chaos.
Derwent were beginning to make some inroads after a torrid start to the match, with Alex Nock orchestrating some counter-attacks from midfield, but Wilson was never troubled in the Vanbrugh goal.
After 26 minutes, Vanbrugh delivered Derwent a critical blow with their second of the afternoon in controversial circumstances.
Sean Metcalfe conceded a penalty for a slide tackle on Rous-Ross, even though he won the ball, allowing John Gill to stroke the spot-kick into the bottom corner with consummate ease.
Then a Vanbrugh almost fashioned a goal of the very highest quality. Rob Rix rode two Derwent challenges before slipping a through ball to Sharkey, who poked a shot inches wide of the far post.
Just before half time, Colclough was again called into action with a brilliant flying save to deny a Gill shot bound for the top corner.
Derwent began the second half much better than they did the first, disrupting Vanbrugh’s rhythm in the final third.
But Vanbrugh almost scored from outside the final third in sensational style.
Rix rocketed an effort from 35 yards but the artillery came crashing down off the underside of the bar, to the relief of a shell-shocked Derwent defence.
As Vanbrugh stepped off the gas slightly, another controversial decision went against Derwent as the referee turned down a blatant handball committed by a Vanbrugh defender in the penalty area.
Minutes before the final whistle, Vanbrugh added a third goal as Sharkey’s right-footed cross from the left was horribly misjudged by Colclough as the ball went straight through his gloves into the net.
With the three points secured, captain James Wilson said: “It’s nice to get off to a good start, but there are more improvements to come.”
Derwent skipper Ali Carroll admitted: “It was difficult playing one of the best first sides around but we shouldn’t have got beaten 3-0. Vanbrugh deserved to win but the scoreline is a bit flattering.”
Vision MOTM: Rob Rix
Good article apart from the part about the ‘blatant handball’. It was the Derwent player who admitted he handballed it, despite shouts from the sidelines suggesting otherwise.