Kinoulton Villa Vets 6 v 1 West Bridgford Notts
Date: March 8th 2015
Venue: Ellis Guildford School & Sports College
Starting Line Up
Jeff Haywood
Subs
Colin Elliott
Tom Clarke
Jim Gardner
Steve Harris
Tony Baldwin
Mark Wheeldon
Simon Moore
Ivan Green
Byron Elliott
Paul Hallam
John Fairbanks
Final Score: KVV FC 6 v 1 West Bridgford Notts
KVV Goal Scorers: Green (2), Baldwin, Moore, Wheeldon, Byron
Man of the Match: Moore
Attendance: 0
Match Report
Villa faced West Bridgford Notts for the second week in a row with a much changed line up. Having relied upon a number of triallists last week, manager Jeff Haywood could still only muster a bare 11 that saw the return of Steve Harris at the back to partner Tony plus Colin switched to right back to accomodate Tom in his favoured left back position. In the middle of the park, Mark and Paul H were back on the right and left respectively with Simon partnering Jim in the middle. The only retained triallist from last week, Byron, partnered Ivan up front. Unfortunately, following a momentary lapse in concentration in 1983, John Ponytail found himself waiting alone at Cotgrave for which he received a £5 fine and was made to play for the opposition when he eventually arrived.
Clearly a few of the players had had an enjoyable Saturday night but whilst having to play on a bobbly pitch that wasn't much bigger than a 5-a-side court, Villa battled hard in the first half and went in 3-0 up at the interval. Ivan in particular had put in a great shift, scoring the first goal and controlling the front line well. The back four looked inpenetrable and it was impossible to see how Bridgford were ever going to find an opening. Tony neutralised most attacks and it was only a matter of time before he chalked up Villa's second from a corner. At first glance, it looked like this might have been an own goal but a hastily convened meeting of the dubious goals panel in the Keyworth Tavern after the game awarded the goal to Tony.
Despite this dominance, manager Jeff Haywood read the riot act at half time. Haywood labelled the team's performance as sloppy and unprofessional adding that certain players needed to take a long hard look at themselves if they thought they could just turn up still half cut from the night before, put in poor performances and still expect to get their pick.
2 seconds into the second half and Bridgford had pulled a goal back. A speculative shot straight from the kick off found Jeff "Safe Hands" Haywood back paddling and flailing remiscent to his hero David Seaman when he was beaten by Nayim. The ball sailed over his head straight into the goal and Villa's run of 3 games without conceeding a goal came to an embarrassing end.
Fortunately for Jeff, the professionalism of some of the senior players failed to let this whole humiliating episode affect their performance in the second half. Simon quickly restored the 3 goal cushion with a cool finish after some neat work down the left by Paul Hallam. Ivan added his second and Villa's fifth with arguably the best goal of the game before new boy Byron got himself off the mark with a strong finish on the left.
All in all, this turned out to be a pretty routine victory for Villa. Sadly, the game will be remembered for one thing only but the team have assured Jeff that they will all move on very quickly and the whole sorry affair will not be mentioned again!