College Cup: Wentworth 1sts 3- 3 Vanbrugh 2nds

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Photos: Oona Vernermo

In a absolutely spectacular contest, Vanbrugh and Wentworth played out a 6 goal thriller in one of the most exciting and dramatic matches of the college cup, to leave Vanbrugh in the Quarter Finals and a disappointed Wentworth in the Plate.

The Match started as it meant to go on, with both sides attacking and a early goal. Wentworth were awarded a free kick just outside the area and the resulting shot taken by Dom Green was headed in by Tom Cantrell to give Wentworth the lead. The match was incredibly open with the ball being transited from one end of the pitch to another with a almost mesmerising regularity.

The Vanbrugh equaliser came after a excellent run from Matthew Potts who layed off to Kyle Picknell who coolly slotted it into the net. Before anyone had had time to pause for breath Vanbrugh took the lead through John Sanderson who powered the ball past keeper Jon Cook.

The match continued in very much the same vein for the rest of the half, and the next goal was quick to follow with a shot from Dan Bowden was saved by Taylor by the rebound was slotted in by Wayne Paes to make it 2-2 at half time.

The second half was again a breathless affair. Paes had another great chance for Wentworth after intercepting a long ball but he didn’t have enough time and space to bring it under control. Wentworth started on the offensive, David Clinton had a great chance to put them into the lead but Taylor was able to scramble it away.

The end to end football continued apace with both teams playing to win, not only this but the match was of exceedingly high quality with both sides playing some lovely football and the fact the score was comparatively low shows the effectiveness of the respective defences. Adam Lewis had a great chance to score but his shot was saved by Cook and the rebound was skied over.

The Vanbrugh pressure showed however as the ever dangerous David Shepherd scored a fantastic goal, smashing it past Cook to put Vanbrugh into the lead for the first time and on the verge of qualification.

Wentworth however were not done yet as Dan Green drilled in the ball off a corner to level the score at 3-3. This however would not be good enough for Wentworth who needed to press on to claim qualification. Green had a good chance to do this but his shot went right at Taylor. Wentworth certainly ended on top and threw the kitchen sink at Vanbrugh in the final seconds with weven the keeper coming up, there was a final bun fight in the penalty box for the ball, but the Vanbrugh defence held firm to ensure their qualification.

Wentworth captain Green told Vision “The team shouldn’t be too despondent, we played well, but they also played well. We’ll look forward to the plate, the first two games are good for us, I think we have a good chance to win it.”

His Vanbrugh counterpart Shepherd was delighted, “we made hard work of it, but in the end we proved we deserved it, i’m very happy with our performance in the group, we’ll need to defend a bit better in the quarters against Halifax, but i’m very proud of this team.”