Report provided by Peter Wilson:

Saturday 17th September 2005
Vics 3 (Brayson 57 Allan pen 74 Battersby 90)
Vauxhall Motors 1 (McGivern 78)

It is often argued that the most successful teams win even when they haven't played well and that certainly was the case for Vics today. And to give credit to Vauxhall they worked tirelessly to contain the league leaders and for almost an hour were holding there own until Burr introduced Brayson to make an immediate impact from the bench by scoring the opening goal.
Before that Vics had struggled to find any rythm and a mundane first half had only come to life near its end when Sale, Allan and Carr combined to send Byrne on goal but his angled shot was wide of the far post. Before that the visitors had created the only half chances of note with Moogan and Rooney being denied by Rogers. The half ended with Roca beating two men to provide an opening for Sale and although he got around the keeper his shot from an acute angle was cleared off the goal line by Duffy.
Vics continued to huff and puff after the break with their passing at times inaccurate and the final pass too often inaffective. Carr won the ball well to find Allan and he appeared to have set up Byrne but the angle proved too acute and Dittmer completed a comfortable save. A teasing cross from Peter Cumiskey had Rogers momentarily floundering to provide a timely reminder that the game was still in the balance. Allan won an arial duel with Dittmer and Duffy to head a long ball down the middle toward a vacant goasl but Duffy was able to get back and clear the header before it rolled across the goal line. Moments later and Battersby replaced Byrne and Brayson took over from Sale to almost immediate effect. A more typical flowing three man move ended with Allan heading down for Roca to have a shot deflected for a corner. From the kick Handyside had a far post shot blocked and BRAYSON collected the rebound to score with a precise finish into the top corner. Chapman found Brayson with an accurate 30 yard pass and he almost picked out Allan with a cross but it proved fractionally too high leaving Allan to stretch and eventually unable to keep his final header down or on target. The sending off of Brian Moogan in the 64th minute for a violent and unsavoury two footed tackle on Carr appeared to have ensured that Vics would go on and endorse their growing superiority with an emphatic win. But this did not prove to be the case. Scott Willis had a 35 yard shot dip wide and then Tommy Rooney ought to have equalised when he was set clear on goal but with only Rogers to beat he shot wide of a gaping goal. That was to prove expensive as three minutes later Brayson cut inside the box to be tripped by a clumsy challenge from Duffy. ALLAN took over penalty taking duty to score confidently from the spot. Yet plucky Vauxhall refused to lie down and just 4 minutes later the volatile McGIVERN tenaciously held on to possession to score from inside the box. The anticipated result was again no longer a formality and although Brayson forced Dittmer into a full stretch save from his cheeky chip and Carr twice miskicked in front of a gaping goal Rooney again failed to find the target when well placed. Handyside had another powerful shot turned around the post by Dittmer and Roca found Brayson on his own and directly in front of goal with a precision pass but the Vics striker could only shoot straight at Dittmer as Vics tried to deliver the killer goal. And it took until the 93rd minute to finally put the game beyond Vauxhall when BATTERSBY picked his spot from a Brayson cross.

Team: 4-41
Rogers  /
McCarthy, Handyside, Charnock, Chapman  /
Byrne (Battersby 55), Carr, Elliott, Roca  /
Sale (Brayson 55), Allan  /
Subs not used: Connett, Payne & Garner
Referee: A. Astley
Bookings: Elliott, Carr (Vics)  Moogan, McGivern & McNulty (Vauxhall)
Sending off: Moogan (Vauxhall)
Attend: 778
Man of the match: Paul Brayson