Wentworth battle back to hold misfiring Vanbrugh
Photograph by Justyn Hardcastle
WENTWORTH COLLEGE 1
VANBRUGH COLLEGE 1
Sunday 8th November
Wentworth came from behind to earn a deserved point on the second matchday of the College Football league against a Vanbrugh side whose season seems to be stuck hopelessly in low gear. Matt Glover’s strike, a matter of seconds after he was summoned from the bench, cancelled out Phil Taylor’s opener in an entertaining 22 Acres encounter.
Vanbrugh will rue a first-half penalty miss as their title aspirations took another dent following a 5-1 defeat to Alcuin on the opening day, but nothing should be taken from Wentworth, who had a hatful of chances to win the game themselves.
It was Vanbrugh who made the early running, with Jamie Clarke effective in exploiting space down the left flank, though their opponents fashioned the best openings. Andy Suggett forced a fine save from Paul Taylor after controlling Samik Datta’s knock-down, while Luke Fleet twice stung the Vanbrugh goalkeeper’s palms. Datta provided a headache for the Vanbrugh defence all afternoon, his pace and ability to drift into space presenting problems as usual, while the Wentworth midfield were usually first to the loose ball.
Aerial combat during Sunday’s 1-1 draw between Vanbrugh and Wentworth. Photograph by Justyn Hardcastle.
However, as the game swung back in their favour, Vanbrugh had a gilt-edged chance to take the lead after Ali Prince was hauled down in the penalty area. The resultant spot-kick was blazed horribly wide, the goalkeeper not even flattering it by moving to either side.
Moments later, though, the breakthrough arrived for the greens. Retrieving the ball on the left-wing, Clarke lofted a cross into the danger area and, after Wentworth failed to head the ball clear, Taylor was left with the simplest of finishes at the back post. There were seven minutes remaining in the half, the perfect time to score, but something about Vanbrugh’s performance suggested defending the advantage would prove beyond them.
Invigorated by the half-time rest, Wentworth were much the better side as the second-half got underway – a combination of goalkeeper Taylor and a well-positioned defender hacking the ball off the line following an ugly scramble. Vanbrugh introduced Isaac Parkinson to offer additional options in attack but, although the replacement did find space from time to time, there was little else going forward.
Vanbrugh picked up their first point of the season against Wentworth but, having missed a first-half penalty, will feel they should have had more. Photograph by Justyn Hardcastle.
In defence, Dan Radford wasn’t shirking any challenges, and his bullish approach kept Wentworth at bay for twenty minutes. But the defender could do little when Taylor lost control of the ball under pressure from Datta and Glover finished crisply from 15 yards, his first touch.
There was plenty of time left for one of the teams to grab a winner, but neither seemed to want it. Vanbrugh had a penalty appeal waved away when Taylor was upended in the corner of the box, though a winner would probably have been undeserved.
Wentworth gave a fine account of themselves, taking the game to Vanbrugh, defending stoutly and showing imagination coming forward. Vanbrugh need to get this game out of their system and look to resurrect their chances of league success against Halifax next weekend.
Sunday 15th November: Vanbrugh vs. Halifax; Wentworth vs. Langwith (11am, 22 Acres)
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Come on Wenty!
Obviously pretty happy with the result and think that in a game that either team could have won, it was a pretty fair result.
I also think the ref deserves a mention – easily the best I’ve seen at college level since I started here (2002).
Were you the ref, Dan?
No, I was not, someone mentioned that he was the President of Refsoc, don’t know if that’s true. If all the refs in Refsoc get towards that standard I think it will have a profound impact on college football.