Vickers unbeaten run ends (From News Shopper)

Vickers unbeaten run ends

11:14pm Sunday 17th January 2010

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VCD suffered a rare home defeat at the hands of Waltham Forest in a game that included an early red card for Vickers defender Gary Cook and a penalty miss from captain Leroy Huggins.

With Gary Ward away for two weeks and Kevin Watson missing with an eye injury following a freak training accident, Anthony Hogg and Lee Maskell were drafted in to the statting eleven.

The early stages were scrappy which is understandable following the recent disruption due to the weather and the visitors were into their stride quicker than their hooped hosts.

The opening goal came after only nine minutes as Forest wide man Ben Yiadom evaded Jason Barton and fed Danny Gabriel through on goal where James Tedder was alert to the danger diving bravely at the feet of the onrushing forward.

As the ball bounced off Tedder's body some 15 yards it was picked up by Forest midfielder Peter Smith who sent a perfectly placed chip over Tedder and defender Anthony Hogg to send the visitors 1-0 up.

The Vickers began to fight back with some fine crosses into the box from Barton, Hegley and Winchcombe but on each occasion the crosses were cleared to safety.

One such cross brought about a penalty award for the Vickers when the Forest goalkeeper was adjudged to have fouled Leroy Huggins.

Huggins dusted himself off, placing the ball on the spot but the normally prolific penatly taker sent his low drive goalwards where the keeper partially saved with his feet before pouncing on the spinning ball as it crept towards the line.

Only minutes later the game's big turning points occured around the half hour mark as centre half Gary Cook picked up two careless yellow cards in the space of minutes, one for a foul on the keeeper and the other for a block on Gabriel out wide.

With a mountain to climb in the second half the Vickers plugged away manfully but the visitors were able to make the extra man advantage tell bringing two fine saves from the impressive James Tedder.

With twenty minutes to go VCD sent on forward Aaron Firth in a positive move to grab an equaliser and straight away the Vickers' favourite made a difference.

In a three man forward line Firth looked bright and postive and saw one effort from outside the box fizz over the bar following some fine work by Kevin Winchcombe.

On 80 minutes the game was effectively sealed by the visitors when a dangerous cross was flicked on in the box and substitute Andre Humphrey-Modeste poked home past Tedder.

There was time for a consolation goal for the 10 men Vickers who never gave in following a surging run from Meshach Nugent setting up his strike partner Huggins for an effort on goal and when his shot was deflected towards goal, Firth was on hand to fire home on 90 minutes.

With only their second defeat at home all season and their first defeat since the away day loss to champions-elect Lowestoft, this result undoubtedly had much to do with playing over an hour with ten men following Cook's misdemeanours.

VCD line up J Tedder, Hunt, Barton, Maskell (Firth 70 mins 1 goal) Cook, Hogg, Winchcombe, Penny, Huggins, Nugent, Hegley Subs not used Ibemere, Bradshaw, Watson and Tedder

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