Match Report: Vineyard v AFC Wallasey Town. Towns first ever competitive fixture, 17/8/14 *make yourself a cuppa for this one. You prepare for months for the first ever competitive match, but at 10:30am when your centre midfielder arrives and is told hes going in goal - you realise that itll be how people react in these unprepared moments that will make or break you as a team. Step forward Dave Sullivan, who with new contact lenses freshly in position declared I can see and said hed take one for the team. AFC Wallasey Town players put on their new strip, agreed that the new shirt is fit and began to warm up. When club captain Tom Freeman called them in for a structured warm up, Matty Morris was overheard to say I didnt sign up for this and will be fined 2 weeks wages. Back into the changing rooms for the serious bit, the season opening team talk. Manager Paul Davey announced the re-arranged starting line-up and then gave a rousing reminder about what AFC Wallasey Town stand for. There are some huge factors that make a team not only successful but one that youre proud to play for - and in that changing room it was clear that everybody agreed. Its not only what you do that counts, its the way that you do it...And that you do it together. The ref, who arrived at 11am and looked about 12, blew the whistle and the season began. The first 10 minutes were very nervous and Wallasey didnt seem to have carried some of the fluid football from pre-season into the opening fixture. Vineyards new signing The Wind was blowing some dangerous balls over the top and Mark Cullimore and Ste Green were called into action from the start. The opening goal came from a Vineyard corner, which was swung into the far post and a neat header back into the opposite corner beat the diving Dave Sullivan. 1-0 Vineyard. So, an early setback that was not in the script. How do Wallasey react? Unfortunately they reacted with a neat offside trap that was completely missed by the young ref , and following a ball over the top from The Wind, the striker collected the ball 5 yards offside and slotted it home. 2-0 Vineyard. When the ref shortly afterwards missed another blatant offside the game was brought to a halt when Will Armstrong decided to ask the ref if hed been drinking. The ref brandished a yellow card, which we presume meant no, Im too young to drink. In fairness, when Will explained to the ref that he was miles behind the play, the ref seemed to accept that he was probably right. Wallasey were beginning to get into the game now and some excellent work by Adam Hanaghan and Ben Speed created a good chance for Lee Davey, which the keeper managed to come out and stop. After a couple of chances had gone begging, and the touch line agreed that Vineyard would need more than 2 to beat us, they got a third. The the ball broke to the left of the area and was drilled home, 3-0 Vineyard. Soon after that it got even worse as Wallasey were quickly breached again and another suspiciously offside looking goal made it four...4-0 Vineyard. Whilst the weather and the ref werent helping, the management team decided that a tactical reshuffle was needed. And while a Vineyard player was being miraculously transformed from lying on the floor in agony into full fitness with the help of a 50p sponge and a small bucket of dirty water, they ran onto the pitch and orchestrated a tactical switch. Wallasey improved for the final ten minutes of the half and had a couple of chances to pull one back before the HT whistle, but they came in at 4-0 down feeling shell-shocked. Many teams have had a first half like that and have looked for somebody to blame, but not AFC Wallasey Town. The teamtalk was uplifting and the players listened and agreed the solutions, with a new shape it was felt the change of halves could bring fresh hope of a turnaround. But that first goal had to come quick, at 4-0 down it was going to be a big ask to get anything from this game. Just moments into the second half, the ball broke to Mark Cullimore who was still up from a corner, and on the edge of the box he took a cool touch to control it, opened his body up and smashed an unstoppable drive into the net. 4-1 Vineyard. Our first ever competitive goal, but was it a platform for a comeback? Wallasey now had total dominance and with Sam Courtneys pace causing real problems and with Hanaghan moved forward, Lee Davey was back on the left flank and was proving difficult to handle. Suddenly Davey sprung the offside trap and as the keeper again came out to block the angle, Davey surprised him with a quick finish beyond him and into the net. 4-2 Vineyard. For the next 15/20 minutes the game entered a stalemate. With Tom Freeman filling in central midfield, the belief was always there that Wallasey had what it took to gain control of a game that seemed to be slipping away and as the game reached its final stages thats exactly what happened. Wallasey won a string of corners and each of them dangerously delivered by Lee Davey and scrambled clear. So on his third consecutive corner he added some extra lift and curl onto the ball and it evaded everyone and flew directly into the net! 4-3 Vineyard. Dan Trevithick came on to add experience and vision up front and Ben Speed moved into the centre alongside him, Vineyard simply couldnt cope now. Everything that came near the now settled Wallasey back four was being cleaned up and sent back as they attacked relentlessly. With just five minutes to go the ball found Davey on the left and he controlled, took his time and slotted the ball into the back of the net!!! 4-4 !! Jubilant celebrations followed, including a pitch invasion from the management team and the players made their way back to restart the game...just minutes left now, they couldnt pinch it could they?! After being 4-0 up, the Vineyard were now kicking the ball away, wasting time and asking the ref if it was time for his mum to pick him up. They were clinging on. Ben Speed picked up the ball on the left, skipped past his man and from 20 yards fired in a screaming drive that missed the top corner by inches. So close. In injury time a corner swung into the far post was almost converted by Cullimore and when the final whistle went there was almost a sense of disappointment that Wallasey didnt get the win they deserved. In the changing room though the spirits were high, with one player who shall remain nameless revealing his fetching underwear that was used instead of cycling shorts, but were actually purchased from the female section of primark. In keeping with the AFC Wallasey Town togetherness, we all agreed that he looked pretty nice. What an opening game. What a great group of people. What a club.
Posted on: Mon, 18 Aug 2014 08:13:32 +0000
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