23/10/2013
AFC STOURVALE RESULT & MATCH REPORT SERVICE......
AFC Stourvale 3 v 4 AFC Burton
For the second week in a row The Vale found themselves having their referee taken away at the last minute, a few phone calls later and the panic was averted.With,on paper at least, a full compliment of players the Management team had the luxury of 2 subs,but wait....................this was at 8pm on a Saturday night, who knows what disasters could happen in the 14 1/2 hours before kick off.
Sure enough,the Vale's plans went out the window when the stand in MIB was pronounced unfit to do the job.Into the breach stepped Andy 'not a happy hobbit' Anderson, to don the black kit and blow the whistle.
A complete re-jig of the team saw,nerw signing, Dan 'yes its THE Danny Thomas ' Thomas putting on the gloves ,a different back four AGAIN, Steve ' let me at 'em' Lane and Al 'farmer boy' Plascott at the heart of the defence with Barney 'another start' Greenway and Adam 'Jenksy 'Jenkins at full backs.
The game never really took much shape to begin with,with the ball spending too much time being hoofed into the air rather than on the floor,but any attack by AFCB (thats Burton not Bournemouth) being snuffed out by good defending and some very good goalkeeping.
It was the same story at the other end with Peter 'still the poshest name in football' Richmond-Cole and his strike partner of Chris 'Thierry Henry' Lane unable to unlock the AFCB defence. However, the deadlock was broken when the ball found its way to Vale's top marksman. Still with plenty to do,he went on a mazy run, beating 4 defenders in the process,finding himself in the opponets penalty box, from an almost impossible angle he fired the ball past the keeper to somehow find the back of the AFCB net. A goal to the good and no reeal scares, the Vale were coping with the Burton attacks, with Rob ' get stuck in ' Johnston and Scott ' Edinburgh Woolen Mill' Parsons getting to grips with the midfield and Jake 'not the ginger Cuddy' Cuddy and Nathan 'not happy on the left' Redwood supporting when they could.
Everything was to be thrown into turmoil when a ball over the AFCB defence saw Chris 'the whippet' Lane take off in hot pursuit of said ball to be met by the out rushing Burton keeper, a nasty looking collision saw the Vale player manager come off worse,(with a subsequent trip to A&E showing the full extent of the damage to knee ligaments,and now a lengthy spell on the sidlines). On came Rhys 'super sub' Martin- Davies and with yet another re-organisation of the team,the Vale lost their momentum, and such is the luck of the Vale this season,they lost the lead too. A corner from the Vale left was partially cleared only to find an AFCB attacker who smashed an unstoppable shot into the top corner of the Vale net.
1-1 at the half maybe a fair reflection on the half but just a shame the Vale couldnt hold out,undone by an unfortunate injury and another unSunday like finish.
Again the second half started much the same as the first,not much football being played, with the ball spending a lot of time in the air. All it took was a little class to see the Vale take the lead again. Peter 'leave it to me' Richmond-Cole pounced on a through ball to bamboozle the AFCB defence and fire coolly past the helpless keeper. 2-1 to the Vale should of then been 3,when the same Vale attacker was up ended in the box and the stand in MIB having no hesitation in pointing to the spot and with no remenstrations from AFCB had clearly,on this occasion, made the right decision.Up stepped P R-C but instead of the net bulging,it seemed he had attended the Barney Greenway school of shooting and blazed over the bar.
A golden opportunity gone begging and Vale were to pay the price when AFCB broke smartly,with some last ditch defending, the ball was put out for a corner. From the resulting corner, the danger wasnt cleared and an attacker headed home from close range.
The Vale pegged back again,only to find themselves back in front minutes later,when, after some good work by Nathan 'give me the ball' Redwood had beaten the offside trap,squared the ball from the left edge of the opponents 6 yard box for the on rushing Peter '3 for me ' Richmond -Cole to calmly fire home.
Surely the Vale wouldnt let the lead slip again...................uhhh, as sure as eggs is eggs , yup, they did.
With a long punt down the field some calamitous defending by Al 'its mine' Plascott and Barney 'no its mine' Greenway saw the 2 Vale defenders collide and as they both fell to the floor, in true comedic style, the ball fell between them just right for the AFCB attacker to tip toe between the stricken defenders and fire past the helpless new Vale keeper.
Minutes from the end the Vale's misery was completed when an AFCB attacker forced his way through a couple of Vale tackles, found his way into the Vale penalty area,picked out a team mate who fired the winner past the despairing dive of the Vale glove man.
AFCS LOWLIGHTS............
Again,the run of bad luck (the injury to the Gaffer), the taking away of the appointed official then the stand in being 'too ill' to take charge all conspiring against the Vale and all these factors out of the Managements hands,that fickle finger of fate really dealing the Vale bum hand after bum hand.
With just a sprinkling of proper Sunday morning defending the Vale did inflict rub salt into their own wounds.
AFCS HIGHLIGHTS...........
Peter Richmond-Cole's goals keeping the Vale in games and the fact that chances are being created.
An assured performance by the new keeper.
The Vale just need a break,for lady luck to smile on the boys for once rather than scowling at them. Keep pulling together boys and the results will come.
Its not for the lack of hard work going on behind the scenes and if only for that reason the now stricken Manager surely deserves a break (no pun intended), and for the Vales luck to turn.
KEEP THE FAITH VALE ###
UTVIAD XxXx