Peter Wilson reports on VICS 4-3 defeat at Droylsden:

That Vics dominated the opening 38 minutes and would have secured a comprehensive victory by this stage had it not been for the excellence of Bloods keeper Paul Phillips is undeniable. That they defended miserably once the home side had taken an undeserved lead is definite and it was the quality of their defending that inevitably was the main reason that they again lost ground in their fight for promotion from the Conference North was without question.
 All had started so well with Vics dominating the early play. Phillips had gotten an important touch to a Brayson cross to prevent Roca from converting at the far post and then Allan forced Phillips into two vital saves in the opening minutes. A slide rule pass from McCarthy seemed to have set up Mayman but his attempt was deflected agonisingly wide. Debutant Kevin Lynch aimed a shot over the bar for the home sides first effort of the game before Vics returned to the offensive and Brayson had a shot turned over the bar by the outstanding Phillips. The Bloods keeper again denied Allan before Vics eventually took the lead they deserved. Mayman and Brayson combined superbly to allow ALLAN the opportunity to arrive at the far post and slot home the result of a well-worked move. The home side provided isolated, if not impressive, responses with Warner and Rapley shooting wide. But it was again Vics who manufactured the better opening when Roca cut neatly inside to again produce a save from Phillips. And so it was especially galling that an ill timed challenge by McCarthy inside the box on Rapley should give the opposition a chance from the spot that they had not deserved. To be fair Terry FEARNS despatched his spot kick with aplomb to bring the two teams level. McCarthy attempted to make amends by moving forward to release Brayson but his attempt was woefully wide and then Carr headed a Roca cross over. Yet, despite their superiority, Vics defensively remained all too vulnerable and a counter attack from the home side resulted in BRODIE scoring with a shot which took a fortuitous deflection off Chapman to creep inside Roger's near post.
If Vics had left the field at half time unjustifiable behind then they arguably failed to respond effectively for far too long after the break. Carl Ruffer had threatened with a header before Payne had to be on his mettle to deny Fearns and then Cameron could only follow up with the weakest of headers. The sending off of Kieran Charnock for a poorly timed challenge on Cameron gave some indication that the writing was already on the wall. And this was all but confirmed when CAMERON arrrived at the near post to score with a header from a right wing corner. Steve Burr's men responded in the only way they know how and pushed forward to try and save something from the game. Battersby and Sale replaced Roca and Mayman and yet again Phillips produced an important save to deny Brayson. Burr committed his team to further attacking options by replacing Chapman with Devlin and three minutes later BRAYSON pulled one back for VICS when he stooped to score with a near post header.

After 85 minutes they appeared to have clawed a point from the game with an equalising goal. The irony was that it should have come from a poor attempted punch clear from the otherwise heroic Droylsden keeper and man of the match Phillips which left ELLIOTT with the opportunity of driving a return shot into the bottom corner of the net. The opportunity to consolidate and register at least a point was lost within 80 seconds when more indifferent defending allowed the Blood's other impressive performer Steve BRODIE to take advantage of indecision in a vulnerable Vics rearguard to pop up and score from the edge of the box and conclude a frustrating day for the Vics and their large following.

 Attend: 701