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Written by Peter Wilson
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Saturday, 08 November 2008 |
Saturday 8th November 2008
Vics 0
Burton Albion 1 (Harrod 19)
The new manager was given a quick introduction to the frustrations of any involvement with Northwich Victoria Football Club when he had to endure an undeserved defeat. For those Vics fans that had visited the Pirelli Stadium earlier in the season it was particularly galling to have to accept that they had witnessed the loss of four points to a team that had been second best for very long periods of both encounters.
As it was the home side squandered too many chances and eventually had to pay the price.
Jonny Allan had an early header saved and loan signing Rashid Yussuff almost began his debut in style but his 25 yard shot ripped into the wrong side of the corner netting. Peter Winn ought to have scored when set clear but his left foot strike failed to find the intended target let alone test the exposed keeper. The lively Aaron Burns broke free to have his shot blocked by the legs of keeper Kevin Poole and Winn again was wasteful by floating his follow up shot wide of a gaping target. Burton produced a goal out of nothing to punish Vics for their extravagancies when HARROLD claimed possession 25 yards from goal and produced a strike that defeated the best efforts of Jones. Burns again got beyond the Albion defence only to be again thwarted by Poole and then subsequent follow up attempts by Allan and again Burns were blocked directly in front of goal. Roberts broke up a rare Burton attack to cleverly find Peter Winn and he did everything right in his intricate approach work but having split the defence asunder hit a right foot shot wide with a number of options available.
Albion enjoyed their one and only best spell at the start of the second half and Jones was forced to pull off an impressive close range save that led to Grand clearing a secondary shot from off the goal line. Jones was again called upon to produce another fine save before normal service resumed and Burton were back on the defensive. A Winn free kick was headed narrowly wide by Grand and then a second free kick from the Scunthorpe loanee cleared the bar by centimetres. With time running out and frustrations growing Steve King understandably tried different options and the introduction of Darryn Stamp clearly caused Nigel Clough’s men more concerns. Grand had a shot hooked from the goal line and then a Stamp knock on was grabbed marginally by Poole from the toes of the advancing Burns. By this stage Burton were hanging on by their finger tips and were left to exhume a huge final gasp of relief when a late Roberts header barely cleared their cross bar.
Team: 4-4-2
Jones /
Aspin (Bailey 84 ), Welch, Roberts, Grand, /
Wag staff (Mullan 76), Flynn, Yussuff, Winn /
Allan (Stamp 70), Burns /
Subs not used: Tynan & Brown
Referee: P. Curry
Attend: 932
Man of the Match: Simon Grand - led by example both defensively and when moving forward for set pieces. Like his comrades did not deserve to be on the losing side -
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Last Updated ( Sunday, 23 November 2008 )
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