College Cup: Vanbrugh 3rds 3-1 Alcuin 2nds

Photos: Ruth Gibson

At about 1:55, the heavens opened. Not just any rain, but driving, heavy rain against a backdrop of swirling wind. Those on the touchline were absolutely freezing, but Vanbrugh 3rds seemed not to be deterred by the circumstances, looking the better team from the kickoff and asserting their dominance after the break.

The first period was far from eventful. Perhaps the players were tentative on a slippery surface, but nevertheless there were very few chances on goal. Indeed, Dan Shepherd’s bloody nose sustained from a clash of heads with Andy Chan was the most eventful incident of note until Kimi Tang-Wright had two chances in quick succession towards the end of the half. The first was fired over from a narrow angle, but John Carney did brilliantly to throw himself in the way of the shot to distract Tang-Wright. The next was entirely self made, dancing his way through a number of challenges, but the finish did not match the run as he shot wide of the right hand post.

The weather got slightly more hospitable after the short break, and a flowing Vanbrugh move created the first goal of the game, an Isaac Parkinson through ball being met by Sam Taylor who lobbed exquisitely over Alcuin keeper Damien Pickard, cue wild celebrations from the sizeable Vanbrugh contingent of supporters on the touchline. They say you are most vulnerable as soon as you score, and this was never truer than when Andy Chan equalised with a lovely curling shot into the bottom right hand corner from the edge of the box having been left unmarked.

That woke Vanbrugh up, and they started to play the better football again, as they had been doing for most of the game. A corner was not dealt with effectively by Pickard, who could only punch it weakly out to Tang-Wright whose centre was headed in superbly by Isaac Parkinson, who was heard to shout in disbelief during the celebrations, “I scored a header!” The lead was extended a few minutes later, as substitute William Cooper threaded a through ball to Parkinson who fired low into the bottom left hand corner for his second of the game to make the score 3-1.

The score stayed that way until the final whistle, although Taylor should have got his second of the game when he tried to repeat the lobbing heroics of his first goal. He had more time to compose himself, but the lob from a more central angle ended up over the bar. However, that does not take away from the overall performance from Vanbrugh, who deserved the win and outplayed their higher ranked Alcuin counterparts to rack up their first win of this season’s College Cup.

Vision MOTM – Isaac Parkinson: The striker notched two very good goals and used his pace to good effect.