Away to Hornminster

The Vets first league game was away to Hornminster, after two close encounters against them last season we knew we were in for a tough match. With both our regular strikers missing and Hilary unfit we went into this game still with what looked on paper a very strong squad. The pitch was a not great for a first game but it would be the same for both teams. We kicked off and home side settled quicker then us in fact we looked a bit nervous and apprehensive and started poorly. Hornminster are a strong physical team and in the early stages it looked like men against Boys. Our midfield was struggling but now and again we put some good moves together with H and Darren Foss combining well down the left. Hornminster took the lead when their forward broke free of our defence to chip the ball over Gary to make it 1-0. Martin Treadway was brought on at that stage to make his vets debut. Hornminster got through our defence again but they were given offside which they were not very happy about! Just a couple of minutes later – is it a bird is it a plane no its goalkeeper Gary Doodes sprinting down the left wing putting a ball further up the wing for Darren Foss to latch onto and deliver a great left footed cross for Martin Tribe to half volley into the net for equliser! With no flag from the linesman we convinced we had scored however the referee spoke to the lino at length he decided not to award a goal. There was no way this was offside and we felt that the referee bottled the decision after giving the opposition offside just a few minutes before. We finally got an equaliser when debutant Martin Treadway doing what he does best scoring with his left foot to make it 1-1 and that’s how the half ended.

We knew that we needed to pass the ball around more in the second half and we tried but again it was a bit scrappy. Gary Doodes then launched a big goal kick encouraging Martin Treadway to chase it which he did but the goalkeeper got there first only for him to suddenly drop the ball right in front of Martin who left footed home from short range to make it 2-1. Whoops!

Then our opposition were awarded a penalty when Darren mistimed his tackle on the edge of the box but Gary Doodes responded by making a great save to push the ball wide of the right post. Then Barry copied Darren by bringing down someone in the area but Barry convinced the referee it was outside so just a free kick and a lucky escape. We had to hang on a bit towards the end sometimes hitting the opposition on the break and we were pleased when the referee blew his whistle for full time. A 2-1 win and three points but not a very convincing performance.

Gary Doodes was Man of The Match due to his penalty save and also saving a one on one when it looked easier to score plus setting up two goals of which one was allowed one disallowed. Danny Brown in defence worked hard and Martyn Tribe had another good game. Debutant Martin Treadway showing his class with his two goals and looks like being a big asset to the vets this year. Report Kevin Whitworth

Team

Gary Doodes (Capt), Dorian West, Steve Hunter, Danny Brown, H, Kevin Whitworth, Barry Smith,

Sean Windeatt, Darren Foss, Martyn Tribe, Tony Graves, Subs: Martin Treadway, Marlon Wedderburn, Paul Obinwko, Bill Howard.