Monday 3rd September 6:15pm Vine FC ‘v’ Millhead

 

Millhead always prove to be tough opposition, they seem to raise their game just for us. Still the game started brightly. Millhead rely on long hopeful balls to their young striker which Skiddie and temporary centre half, Mike Johnson seemed to deal with fairly easily. The Vine didn’t seem themselves and seemed to visibly panic when in possession, wanted to get rid of the ball quickly. Millhead had a centre midfielder who matched the towering Crumps and so our aerial attacks were quashed. The Vine still battled hard and only had one clear shot when Kev floated a ball to Simon Ball, who controlled, turned and hit a tame shot which the Millhead keeper saved easily. At half time there were stern words from Steve and Steve and the Vine seemed brighter in the second half. Gareth Hammond had the ball in the net but the goal was disallowed with a controversial off side decision. Robbed !!!!

 

Then with about 20 mins to go and a sustained bout of Vine pressure, the Millhead centre half miss-hit a clearance straight up in the air towards the Millhead keeper. The keeper an defender got in each others way and as the ball dropped, Crumps seemed to take forever to tap the ball over the line 1-0 ! This seemed to motivate Millhead more and after a seemingly weak shot, the Vine keeper, Henry, seemed to let the ball slip through his hands and Millhead scored with a fluke. Millhead clearly wanted the game more now and soon went ahead 2-1. Vine wilted and never got back into the game. The Vine were intimidated by the “pumped up” Millhead players and hostile crowd. This loss hurt and the Vine must bounce back stronger and learn from their mistakes. The defeat can be forgotten quickly as the next game falls only two days away when they meet Cartmel at home.

 

By Simon Ball

Wednesday 5th September 6:15pm Vine FC ‘v’ Cartmel

 

 

Vine FC lost their second game in three days, again by just the one goal.
Facing a Cartmel side with a spine of familiar older heads surrounded by quick young lads, Vine again failed to impose themselves on the game.

The only goal came from the tricky right-winger who took advantage of a loose throw from Henry, skipped around Heyse and chipped the ball into the top corner.

It was a great goal and proved to be the winner as Vine, despite late pressure, failed to find the net for the first time this season.

The nearest they came to scoring was in the last 10 minutes when shots rained in on the Cartmel goal.
Substitute Martin Lancaster had the ball in the net, tapping in at the far post, but was ruled offside.

 

By Steven Hewitt

Saturday 9th September 2:00pm Grange ‘v’ Vine FC

A hot sunny afternoon in Grange over sands welcomed Vine FC as they arrived for this away fixture, the heat was turned up in the first twenty minutes as Vine began to dominate.

Nick Ebbitt and his partner in crime Kev spraying passes like nobodies business. A make shift yet resolute back for was looking solid, this pressure continued until the left foot of Hayes sent a delightful diagonal ball from the left wing into the path of the on rushing centre forward Ball, who nearly broke the net with a bullet header from somewhere near the goal.

Vine began to ease off, nerves were fraying on the touchline as Grange were caught off side several times, with horrible allegations of cheating being banded about. The back four remained unnerved and held firm until half time.

Grange came on strong in the second half, and began to put some passes of their own together, but vine held firm until Grange got a corner, a slightly panic stricken Vine were still organising their defence when the corner caught Vine keeper Hatton off guard and ended up in the back of the net. A regrettable moment for the Vine keeper who had had an otherwise superb game between the sticks having made the journey up from Cheshire that morning.

Grange piled on the pressure keeping the ball well, and after a string of excellent saves from Vine keeper Hatton they finally got a lucky break for their second. A through ball to their striker having found a gap between centre half and full back, who  hit a low hard shot which was saved down to his right by Hatton, unfortunately enough the rebound fell to some grange player who had the nerve to put it in from two yards.

This was a wake up call, Vine stepped it up a gear and began again, owning the centre of the park and sending Steve Lancaster and Gaz "tantastic" Hammond down either wing, it was the "tantalizer" who came closest with some on the touchline thinking it was in after a thunderbolt shot hit the side netting. And then, with only minutes on the clock, the out of form Nick Ebbitt stepped up to the plate with a grass cutter of a shot from twenty five yards that took a bobble and looped embarrassingly through the goal keepers hands "Collymore" style, the crowd went wild, after two defeats on the bounce grinding out this result was exactly what Vine FC needed.

 

By Henry Hatton

Saturday 15th September 1:30pm Vine FC ‘v’ Hindley Town

Well it was something different this week with the Vine FC making its first appearance in the Lancashire FA Amateur Cup and welcoming Hindley Town from Wigan to the Carnforth Arena. Not sure of the standard of opposition the Vine started nervously and had to call on debutant keeper Danny Simpson several times to keep them in the game. The Vine had few chances with Simon Ball coming close when he broke through the centre only to see him drag his scuffed left footer wide of the posts. Vine then settled towards half time and looked good going forward and the nervous looking defence kept Hindley at bay. In the second half Hindley looked frustrated as Vine cranked up the tempo and started to mount some pressure and looked the far better team. Gareth Hammond came into the game more and it wasn’t long before he won a free kick on the left. Mark Heys produced a quality cross which was met by Nick Ebbitt and he headed back across goal and into the net. Hindley looked rattled and Vine continued to press with Nick Ebbitt coming close again with a rasping right footer which didn’t amuse Gareth Hammond who would have had a tap in at the back post. Vine were left to rue their missed chances as Hindley broke late and Vine lost concentration as Hindley had a tap in to equalise. With minutes on the clock, and error by keeper Danny Simpson allowed a tame trickler to nestle in the corner. Gutted, however the Vine take a lot of positives out of this performance and can only improve on their league position.

 

By Simon Ball

Saturday 22nd September 1:30pm Morecambe Royals Reserves ‘v’ Vine FC

It gets a lot harder to write these things after another defeat. We turned up at Salt Ayre (most of us at the correct time of 1:00pm.) Unfortunately Nick Ebbitt had pulled out of the team due to injury and so big Frank made his debut, returning to the Vine after several years absence. Again we started nervously and gave the ball away quite often. It didn’t help much when Royals won the ball on the edge of their own box and then went up the pitch unchallenged and crossed the ball to a seemingly offside striker (not sure where the linesman was looking) and he poked home from 3 centimetres. Vine rallied and had several goal mouth scrambles, but the tone was set for the day Nothing dropped for the Vine at all. Every loose ball went to a Royals player, every lucky ricochet fell the way of Royals. It wasn’t long before Royals scored again. 2-0 down at half time and we needed to score early in the second half. We played some half decent stuff at times but nothing was going right in the final third of the pitch. However Royals broke again and scored 3 more in the second half to win the game 5-0. Hard to take as they really weren’t the better team.

 

 

By Simon Ball

Saturday 29th September 2:00pm Vine FC ‘v’ Slyne - Hest (LCC) A

Thankfully this match report proved a bit easier than previous weeks as finally the tide has turned and we realised our potential. Down to the bare bones this week with the injury list now including Danny Simpson, Henry Hatton, Nick Ebbitt, Martin Lancaster, Gareth Hammond and Mike Wilson. I started to panic a wee bit as I saw Steve Ball pulling a pair of Vine socks on; surely things can’t be that bad !!! With no regular keeper fit, Mark “The Cat” Heys donned the padded shorts (XL) and the smelly gloves. Chris Domboyi showed his versatility and moved into left back. Centre half regulars, Richard and Skiddie were unchanged and Steve Lancaster made his first start in a while at right back. Crumps slotted into his position at defensive midfield and newcomer Pete made his debut in the centre, while Kev and Dan were the wide players. Simon Ball and Alberto Zambianchi. Mike Johnstone, with his dodgy ankle, Steven Hewitt and big fat Lee Bradley were on the bench.

The game started and after the rousing team talk before, we started sluggishly and went behind fairly early on. Heads were down and it seemed to be another frustrating game. The Vine rallied though and started to find passes and confidence grew. Although Slyne were lively up front, Vine got on top in midfield and the Slyne defence appeared very fragile. A hopeful ball was played and the Slyne keeper and centre half seemed in two minds who was going for it and wily striker, Simon Ball, nipped in, stole the ball, rounded the keeper and rolled it in from 20 yards with a left footer. Vine really dominated now and debutant Pete seemed to pop up all over the shop and Vine were unlucky not to go 2-1 up when Pete broke on the left wing and floated a delightful cross to the back post were Simon Ball rose and planted his header well wide. The second half started with some sustained pressure from Slyne and disaster struck when a ball broke to their rotund striker who happily slotted past Mark Heys to take a 2-1 lead. Vine didn’t give up and kept playing and probing. Simon Ball took the ball off a Lee Bradley throw in and flicked it past his marker on the right hand side of the box. Almost impossibly he then stuck a toe on a bouncing ball and seemed to flick a looping lob from an improbable angle and slotted it over the keeper and into the net for the equalizer. Vine were now well on top and Slyne go more and more frustrated as they had a goal disallowed for off-side and started arguing amongst themselves, much to amusement of Chris Domboyi. Lee Bradley had a nice long chat with the referee before taking another throw in near the Slyne box. Slyne only managed to clear the ball straight up where Crumps headed a ball right across the box which was watched by everyone except Steve Lancaster who came from nowhere to strike a crisp right foot volley into the net for the lead. Vine soaked up some intense Slyne pressure to see the game out and take the 3 points. A very pleasant afternoon for all in a white shirt

 

 

By Simon Ball

Match reports take up a lot of space and so I will archive them each month. Please click below to read your month of choice

 

August 2007 Match Reports

Saturday 6th October 2:00pm Bentham ‘v’ Vine FC

Vine travelled to Bentham on a fine sunny October day to what has to be the best pitch in the league to play football on with a smell of anticipation in the air or was that Crump?.

       
Vine lined up with a makeshift but strong side with Hays in net, Nick Ebbitt filling in at right back the central pairing of Skiddy and Rich with man of the match from last week Steve Lancaster at left back. Danny Fuller right with a trio of Frank, Crump and the lovely Gareth Hammond in the middle and Chris Domboyi on the right with a lone striker Bally.

 

Vine made a very nervous start to the game which cost us an early goal just 4 minutes in, when a long ball caught our defence napping and Hays rushing out only to be chipped and the ball rolled in to an empty goal. This woke the away side up and Vine played some nice football after this with Frank going close after good work down the left by Gaz and Lancy. Vine also had a penalty shout when Chris Domboyi was tripped in the box. The half went on with good periods of possession from both sides but the second goal came for Bentham when the midfield stood off and allowed a shot to get away this was a cracker and it nestled in the top corner, nothing Hays could do about that one. Half time 2-0 Bentham.

 

After a rousing team talk and a few changes with Crump moving back into defence in a 5,3,2 formation, Vine started the second half much better with lots of pressure some Crunching tackles (Mainly Crump Impaling players on his legs) and a few corners, Vine got their break when the ball was handled in the box, Penalty! Nick Ebbitt stepped and coolly slotted the ball low in the left hand corner past Bentham’s keeper. Vine pushed on after this searching for an equaliser and let themselves get caught at the back with Bentham going close a few times, The pressure nearly paid off for vine when Bally found himself in the box and with a good clean strike the ball came back off the bar. The half continued in this way and the ref blew a few minutes early as Vines pressure came to no avail!

       
It was a very good performance from Vine and the were unlucky to lose.

 

By Martin Brown