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Photos: Oliver Todd
Dom Green lashed in a late winner for Wentworth as the post-graduates secured their first victory this academic year.
The striker benefited from confusion in the Goodricke six-yard box following Tom Redhead’s cross to sweep the ball beyond Ed Foster.
Although Wentworth won’t care, the match was a drab affair and never hit the dizzying heights of the 5-5 draw between the two sides last term.
Wentworth were the more positive side during the first half and forced Goodricke to play just Joe Mann on his own up front.
Andreas Marcheggiano caught Goodricke napping when he found Wayne Paes with a short corner, but the Wentworth captain sliced his shot wastefully wide.
Most of Wentworth’s pressure was coming down the right, with good link-up play between Tom Ratcliff and Murray. However, the final pass was lacking on too many occasions.
The best chance came on 28 minutes when Marcheggiano’s inswinging corner was glanced just wide of the far post by an unmarked Mutlu Cukurova.
Goodricke’s Whelan then made a vital block on the line from Murray after the winger had robbed Matt Thomas of possession.
Then Wayne Paes was played in by a delicious Dom Green pass, but in an attempt to slip the ball past Foster, Paes’ shot hit the keeper and rolled behind.
Goodricke improved in the last few minutes of the half as Christian Hammer had a shot comfortably saved by Colin Hill and moments later the striker was through on goal but the ball was smothered to safety by the basketball 1sts star.
Goodricke started the second half immediately on the front foot as Hammer had a pop at goal. His shot ricocheted fortunately off a Wentworth defender offering him a second bite at the cherry but it was a rotten effort as it flew over the bar.
Winger Turnbull was also finding more opportunities in the second half. His dinked cross into Hammer was clever, but the striker could not apply enough contact to test Hill.
Sam Astbury then delivered a hanging, testing free-kick but Hill demonstrated his superb athleticism to tip the ball over the bar.
Wentworth were coming back into it, however, with a number of dangerous counter-attacks. The industrious Murray was stretching the Goodricke defence with his forays down the right, but his pass to Paes saw the captain again shoot weakly, as Foster comfortably saved.
With 10 minutes left, Joe Mann, who had had a quiet game so far, almost gave Goodricke the lead. After brilliantly swivelling away from Ratcliff, Mann dinked the ball towards the far post but Hill got fingertips to it to send the ball inches wide of the far post.
As time ticked on, a rare 0-0 result loomed ever larger. But on 82 minutes, Wentworth struck the devastating blow to rid any prospect of this.
Tom Redhead picked up possession unopposed on the left wing and crossed into the six-yard box. Dom Green, unmarked, should have scored as he missed his header completely.
Fortunately, however, the ball bounced kindly off a combination of teammate Murray and a Goodricke defender to allow Green to leather the ball into the net.
The goal was harsh on Goodricke who had looked better since half time. The team in green tried to push for an equaliser but their efforts were fruitless.
Turnbull shot high and wide but he was being well marshalled away from goal by left-back Ben Keane. Then the referee refused to give a penalty with five minutes left as Turnbull was chopped down by a clumsy Hill challenge.
Wentworth eventually held on to win and captain Wayne Paes said afterwards: “I’m happy to get our first win of the season. We kept the ball really well and we’re now in good shape for the college cup.”
A crestfallen Matt Thomas of Goodricke said: “We only had 11 players today and no substitutes because of Varsity tomorrow – a few of the lads had other commitments and couldn’t make it today.”
Vision MOTM: Dom Green