GOOD PERFORMANCE SECURES DESERVED VICTORY

A solid performance against a physical Three Bridges saw us come away with a deserved win with everyone playing a full part. Things did not bode well when Marcus Elliott had to go off with an injury in the opening minutes, but his replacement Anthony Adesite slotted in effectively on the right flank. The hosts had probably their best spell in the opening quarter, playing with confidence and pace, and put in some excellent crosses from out wide that put us under pressure and caused some uncomfortable moments, but as the half opened up they lost much of their threat as they resorted to a more physical game and once we had matched that we had a greater share of the play. Tom Tolfrey got clear a couple of times to test Nick Blue in our goal as we were hesitant in the opening stages, but once we settled down we played some decent football and created chances. A ball down the right reached Paul Vines who cut in with his left foot shot having home keeper Kieron Thorp at full stretch, then a long kick from Nick Blue was chested by Paul into the path of Ayman but his volley went narrowly wide. Then Nick set up another attack, finding Paul again who got round Troy Williams before crossing into the box, but Anthony Adesite’s header drifted wide. Malachi Hudson was receiving some rough treatment from the home players but he was causing problems for the hosts with his mazy dribbling, and had a hand in the opening goal on the half hour. Receiving a throw he turned inside and rode a couple of tackles before slipping the ball to Ayman who side-footed neatly past Thorp to give us the lead. We were playing well now with our back line looking secure and passed the ball around quickly as we tried to create openings, and as the half drew to a close we put more pressure on and came close on a couple of occasions. Ayman picked up a loose ball and touched it into the path of Paul Vines whose drive cannoned behind off a defender before, a precision free kick on the right from Chris Edwards was met on the half volley by the impressive Joe Bingham, only for his effort to crash back off the underside of the bar. Three Bridges didn’t take heed and a minute later an identical free kick from Chris was met by Lea Dawson who headed powerfully past Thorp to double our lead. The hosts were getting rattled with some niggly fouls coming into play but we stayed calm as the half drew to a close.
Kicking down the slight slope after the break gave us the edge as we pressed early and within five minutes had extended our lead from a free kick conceded by the right corner flag. With a lot of pushing and wrestling in the box Dean Lovegrove had an altercation with Joe Bingham with the referee intervening as matters heated up but then, when Ashley’s free kick came into the box, Joe eluded Lovegrove to head home from close range. Just a further five minutes had elapsed when we scored our fourth to effectively put the game out of reach for Bridges as Paul Vines collected a ball forward and neatly turned Lovegrove, before sending a low left foot shot past the keeper into the bottom corner. Three Bridges then began to play at greater pace with some changes made and should have reduced the arrears when Troy Williams sent a great ball into the six yard box from the right, but with three forwards on hand none took responsibility and the ball drifted wide. A succession of balls in from the right tested us but we coped well and managed the game well for periods without taking risks as we looked to preserve our lead. Hayden Skerry got into a good position on the edge of our area but skied his ball over when he had time to take it forward but largely we were quite comfortable as the game got confined in midfield. Minutes from the end we came close when Ayman received the ball on the left and played Malachi in where he got past two defenders, only for his shot to come back off a post and an off balance Anthony Adesite was unable to keep the rebound on target. A good all round performance from the players who continue to settle in well as they get to know how they each play, and as long as we don’t get too carried away by our promising start we should be able to give most teams a test.

VCD Athletic: Blue, Edwards, Probets, Bingham, Barry, Oshilaja, El-Mogharbel (Hysi 77), Dawson, Vines, Elliott (Adesite 6), Hudson (Fisher 77)

Subs not used: Okonkwo, Griffiths

Attendance: 129