College Cup: Vanbrugh 2nds 2-1 Derwent 2nds

Vanbrugh laboured to a 2-1 victory against Derwent in a physical and sometimes tetchy encounter, which reflected the windy conditions on the JLD, to put themselves in a fantastic position to qualify for the cup knockout stages.

The match began with both teams relatively evenly matched as both sides started brightly, showing attacking intentions. John Garness, taking advantage of a Ryan Gwinnett assist had an early chance for Derwent that was hit wide. Gwinnett was particularly dangerous in the early stages, making some dangerous runs into the Vanbrugh penalty area. It quickly became obvious that this would be a physical encounter with both sides defending resolutely, putting in some hard tackles. Really good chances were at a premium as both teams struggled with passing fluency and both defences were very well organised. A day for free flowing attractive this was not, this was due, partly it must be said due to the incredibly windy conditions which played havoc with long balls.

The physicality of the match reached a head when a particularly hard tackle from Mihir Overo-Tarimo led to a heated argument between a few of the opposing players, which was quickly and skilfully brought under control by the referee. From the resulting free kick Harry O’Brien took an absolute stunner from long range to confound keeper Frank Woodcock (who perhaps should have done better) to give Vanbrugh the lead. Vanbrugh followed this up with a great chance for Kyle Picknell who after a solo run shot wide. Picknell was on the charge again moments later, but a great tackle from Matthew Elvin stopped him in his tracks. Vanbrugh did seem to be in the ascendency as the half drew to a close. However Derwent were still a danger and right on the stroke of half time Ryan Gwinnett scored a brilliant free kick from long distance that David Beckham would have been proud of to end the half with both side level pegging.

However this didn’t last long in the second half. Almost immediately Tom Parish broke away and coolly slotted the ball into the corner of the net to make it 2-1 to Vanbrugh. Vanbrugh kept up the momentum and was quickly on the offensive again aiming to extend their lead. Vanbrugh had another great chance, their original shot rebounded off the keeper into the path of Parish whose secondary shot was taken right at the keeper, who had quickly recovered.

Derwent were not done by any stretch of the imagination though and pressed on having a number of good chances, but keeper Tom Williams was in fantastic form and dealt with them all impresively. Towards the end of the game conditions worsened, the wind got up and rain started to drive down not helping their cause at all. As a result the math seemed to settle down in the final five minutes and Vanbrugh came out 2-1 winners.

After the game Derwent captain Wim Schoenmaker was disappointed with his sides performance. “Completely different from last weekend, our passing didn’t connect properly, we didn’t get in the game unlike Vanbrugh who were really on it, well done to them they deserved it.” The result leaves Vanbrugh out in front of group B level with James 1sts with 9 points in a good position to qualify to the knockout stages, with Derwent well back in third on four points.