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Photos: Emilien Tortel
Vanbrugh were made to work for victory as they held off a spirited Goodricke comeback to secure their first league win of the season.
Kieran O’Dwyer scored twice, and Phil Taylor bagged another, as Vanbrugh looked out of sight at 3-0 mid-way through the first half.
But after Gareth Thomas and Johnny Grout exchanged strikes either side of the interval, Goodricke piled on the pressure with 15 minutes to go.
Despite accomplished finishes from Mizan Ally and Luke Inness, they ultimately left themselves too much to do and a relieved Vanbrugh secured the points.
These two college have traditionally served up feisty affairs, with memories pre-match of Vanbrugh 2nds’ controversial 2-0 win over Goodricke 3rds and in particular Goodricke 1sts’ defeat of Vanbrugh 3rds during the College Cup.
It looked for all the world the cup champions would record a comfortable victory, thanks to a first half display characterised by clinical finishing and refreshing tenacity.
The early stages were a messy affair, as neither side could put their stamp on proceedings, but a marvellous individual goal saw Vanbrugh strike first.
Kieran O’Dwyer, a penalty hero from last term’s cup final, produced a couple of deft touches to evade two Goodricke players, before slotting the ball home with consummate ease.
Seconds later, the advantage was doubled as Rory Sharkey fed Elliot Ross down the left, and the striker’s cute pull-back was bundled in by O’Dwyer.
Masters student Phil Taylor then made life worse for the Heslington East outfit, as he thundered home O’Dwyer’s perfectly-weighted pass to leave Goodricke staring at a humiliating defeat.
But, as the cliché goes, goals change games and Goodricke eventually scored their first of the morning.
They were made to wait, however, as Matt Graham produced two superb goal-line clearances from Joe Mann, with YUSU President Kallum Taylor beaten.
Goodricke were enjoying more of the possession and finally broke Vanbrugh’s defence through Gareth Thomas. The left back bundled in Luke Inness’ wicked free-kick delivery, but Vanbrugh felt aggrieved by the referee’s soft decision.
The goal sparked the game to life as challenges were flying in from both teams, and the referee appeared out of his depth in dealing with such a physical contest.
The half-time break came at a convenient time for Vanbrugh and straight after the restart their three-goal cushion was restored.
The determined Grout was released by Phil Taylor and the captain finished from an acute angle on the right, with the ‘keeper getting just a fingertip to it.
The goal appeared to deflate Goodricke for some time and, despite enjoying more possession, it took them a while to breach Vanbrugh’s ranks on a second occasion.
With 15 minutes to go, Goodricke made things interesting when the ubiquitous Thomas crossed for Ally, who slammed home with no Vanbrugh defenders around him.
Goodricke pushed men forward and saw Bullock’s rising piledriver well saved by Taylor and they astonishingly scored a third with two minutes left.
A clever one-two between Mann and Innes saw the latter execute a delicious outside-of-the-foot finish, which evaded Taylor to set up a grandstand finale.
But try as they might, an equaliser was too much and after the match a relieved Johnny Grout told Vision: “It was a very tough match and we didn’t play our best football today. They kept the ball better than us but didn’t take their chances.”
Joe Mann of Goodricke commented: “We had a wobbly five-minute spell in the first half which gave Vanbrugh momentum. In the second half they coulnd’t get out of their own half and overall I’m happy with the effort.”
Vision MOTM: Johnny Grout