Goodricke survive Alcuin fight back to finish on a high

December 7, 2011 | ONLINE ONLY
Andrew Derlien

GOODRICKE 3-1 ALCUIN

Images: Philippa Grafton

After an erratic run of form of late, Goodricke secured a positive end to the term’s college football action with victory over Alcuin.

The men in green controlled most of the game, and survived a brief Alcuin fight back to carve out a deserved 3-1 win.

On a bitterly cold morning on the 22 Acres, Goodricke gradually found their rhythm from the kick off, keeping Alcuin centre-backs Chris Houlgate and Chris Boyd working hard to cut out several fine early through-balls.

Goodricke’s pressure almost led to disaster for the reds early on, with only Damian Pickard’s quick reactions in goal preventing team-mate Harry Billimore’s deflected header ending up in his own net.

Goodricke continued to press however, and minutes after Jon Sharpe’s wonderful long-range effort, which struck the crossbar, the striker forced another good save from Pickard with a grounded shot; the perfectly placed Joe Mann was able to follow up with the rebound ,however, and coolly struck home the opener.

Alcuin regrouped to create some good chances of their own before the interval, with Will Taylor’s superb free kick forcing a fine save from Tom Neill.

And the winger came close again minutes later, rounding Neill skilfully but failing to find a teammate with his cross after taking the ball wide.

Goodricke doubled their lead early in the second half, Matt Sutherland’s clever overhead kick finding Christian Hammer, who capped off his solid performance by smashing home for 2-0.

The next 20 minutes proved anything but comfortable for Goodricke however, with the introduction of Jacob Scholz and Josh Allen galvanizing a brave attacking effort from Alcuin.

Both men went close but were denied by bad luck, with Scholz rolling a shot onto the post before Leonidas Kanonis forced another save from Neill.

Sadly for Alcuin, the comeback was not to be and the momentum slowly shifted back towards Goodricke.

Sharpe continued to threaten and forced the save of the match from Pickard, who was magnificently able to tip his thunderous drive over the bar.

Pickard was unable to save his team in the 75th minute though, Mann scoring his second with a calm lob as Alcuin’s defence appealed for an offside decision, effectively securing the win for Goodricke.

There was still time for Alcuin to score a consolation goal though, Scholz playing a cheeky one-two with Allen and firing through the legs of Neill, before the referee signalled the end of an entertaining encounter.

Speaking after the game, Goodricke co-captain Matt Thomas was understandably satisfied with his team, commenting, “We played well, defended solidly from the back and took our chances- I thought that was the difference between the two sides in the end.”

A frustrated Bradley Wood remained gracious in defeat, the Alcuin captain largely agreeing with Thomas: “We had a lot of chances to get some goals on the board, but we didn’t take them and got punished for it. They probably deserved to win.”

Man of the match: Joe Mann

Goodricke: Neill, Hurd, Fagan, Astbury, Thomas (C), Mann, Cottingham, Hammer (C), Bullock, Sharpe, Sutherland. Subs: Munro.

Alcuin: Pickard, Smith, Boyd, Houlgate, Billimore, Taylor, Wood (C), Pickering, Kanonis, Brown, Al-Ahmadi. Subs: Scholz, Allen.

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