Peter Wilson reports on our win at Lancaster:

 Jonny Allan may have been somewhat living in the shadow of his striking partner Paul Brayson in recent weeks but he re-emerged today to grab a brace of goals which enabled his team to enjoy an important and timely win.
Steve Burr sprang a couple of surprises in his starting lineup by omitting Jon McCarthy, Carlos Roca and Danny Mayman and instead preferred Steve Payne, Michael Byrne and Richard Battersby. Yet it was Allan who worked an early opening for Brayson but his close range shot was saved on the line by McMillan. But it soon became clear that this was going to be an anything but an easy game for the Vics. Zico Black caused some consternation in the Vics defence but Charnock was eventually able to clear the danger before some clever play from Battersby ended with a cross that Carr just failed to reach in front of goal and although Brayson did well to retrieve the loose ball his eventual shot was blocked. Alex Taylor determedly worked enough space for himself to test Rogers from the edge of the box and then Carr had a header very comfortably saved from another useful Battersby cross. With Lancaster closing Vics down at every available opportunity they were able to continue to create half chances of their own and eventually benefited in the 39th minute when the Vics defence failed to deal with a straightforward free kick launched into the box leaving ZICO BLACK to benefit from a deflection to score from close range. This provided Vics with a cue to apply their first real period of concentrated pressure and with the half almost at a close they grabbed a more than welcome equalising goal. Michael Byrne weighted a free kick perfectly into the heart of the penalty area and ALLAN got on the end of it to score with a header that defeated McMillan despite his best efforts.
The second half continued with the kind of application from Lancaster that you would have expected from any team put out by manager Phil Wilson as they increasingly frustrated Vics efforts. Elliott forged forward to shoot wide when the free and well placed Brayson would have been a far better option and then a mix up between Charnock and Rogers let in Taylor but his intended lob thankfully only found the side netting. As Vics' frustrations grew Lancaster  looked increasingly more capable of grabbing maximum points from the game. And only a sensational point blank save by Rogers to deny Zico Black and a clearance off the goal line by Handyside to prevent Taylor from following up and scoring kept the teams level. Yet Jonny Allan was not to be denied his day back in the limelight and when McMillan and his co defenders failed to clear  a long throw from the left ALLAN popped up to score a close range winner.

Attend: 513
Man of the Match: Kris Rogers

Pete Wilson


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