Volunteer Arms Football Club

Jump to Comments

One of the only teams to respond to my gumtree advert with an astonishingly similar history to ourselves, Wester Hailes Baptist Church made the trek out to Fisherrow to be welcomed with a brilliant and balmy East Lothian night. A totally unknown side to anybody they only started up at the end of 2008 and had been playing a series of roughly 7 friendlies, with their fixture before us being against an amateur side – precisely mirroring our fixture against Haddington. After a series of 2 unbeaten games on the bounce being interrupted by an inevitable defeat to HAFC, and the depressing statistic that before this match we had only won one of our encounters the need for victory was at a critical stage.

After a week long break since a tiring pair of games the team were fully rested and refreshed for this fixture, and a particularly valuable fact to be gleamed from this game is that we only called upon one new face for the match. This is slightly innacurate, as the new face actually called upon us for a game. Andy McKinlay from Leith dropped me an email basically saying he had been playing fives for ages and was looking for a more realistic challenge, such as that posed by 11 a side. It seemed a fair enough request, and since this was essentially how the team was founded I gave him a shout for the game. Sticking to the ever reliable 4-4-2 we were blessed with a rare ocassion where Mike Kinsella wasnt working to have him between the sticks. In defense (left to right) were J.Dick (captain), Greig Johnstone, Plockton’s favourite son Gordon Mackenzie, and Gordon’s mate Lewis. In front of them were (l-r) Tulloch, Clarky, Val, and Owen “I can surely get a knee replacement on the NHS” Kinsella, and starting up front were Calum Day and Ryan “Georgie Best” Mckenna. A record breaking subs bench of five consisted of Ken Dick, Olsson, Declan Kinsella (due to only being available for the 2nd half), Marcin, and our import from Leith Andy McKinlay.

After disappointing him with a last minute call up cancellation we called on veteran whistler Chris Muir to take charge of proceedings, which he was as usual extremely glad to do. Winning the toss I chose to kick off with VAFC shooting towards the park end, saving the second half to shoot towards the favoured Director’s box end. The match started off with some early pressure from Wester Hailes that was well absorbed by our now experienced defence and they never troubled the steadfast Mike Kinsella. VAFC responded to this well by pushing up making critical advances due to some brilliant play built from the back, including a couple brilliant nutmegs from a particularl tall, mildly ginger, Musselburgh pub team captain. From this intelligent play came some intense goal mouth scrambles that should have seen Calum Day open his goalscoring account and VAFC take the lead. Wester Hailes ocassionally broke forward but it was consistently dealt with by our defense and Mike Kinsella rushing out safely to pick up some loose balls, and with Weste Hailes mostly remaining penned in their own half a goal was certain to come from the Volleys. This would eventually come from a penalty decision that was hotly debated when Owen Kinsella was felled by one of the visitors. Owen cooly converted from the spot sending it into the top right of the goal leaving the Wester Hailes keeper with no chance. The match continued on in very much the same vein with Wester Hailes picking up a few corners but never really threatening at all, and the first half was eventually drawn to a close with VAFC leading 1-0.

A truly delightful first half performance with some tricky play from VAFC, the plan from here on in was pretty obvious, more of the same lads. Continue pushing up, penning them in, extending our lead, and most importantly playing with the style and fun attitude from the first half.

Having a lead from the first half there was no need to make any use of our populous subs bench, as to do that would interrupt the flow and tempo of the game with our boys linking up intelligently. Much like the first half the match was restarted with some pressure from Wester Hailes keen to equalise and bring the game back on their terms with some cutting attacks down the wings that were aptly dealt with. Pressure and dominance were soon restored and VAFC were chasing for more goals. With a Volleys attack coming down the middle the Wester Hailes defence were forced to put the ball out for a corner. Clarky stepped up and delivered one of his trademark sniper crosses into the box and Plockton’s finest export was there to deftly volley the ball past the ailing Wester Hailes goalkeeper to open up the lead to 2-0. After play was resumed posession was soon snatched back by VAFC and a quick driving attack down the right wing was lead by Owen Kinsella who played a short pass in to Val whose insurpassable close control saw him slip past 2 defenders and put in a surprisngly mild shot that ended up in the back of the net to finish off a very quickfire double for the Volleys and make it 3-0. With a fairly comfortable lead now established and the match having reached the hour mark I decided to honour our subs and substituted Owen Kinsella for new comer Andy McKinlay, Lewis for the ever present Declan Kinsella, and Val for Marcin. Despite the relatively simple nature of the substitution it caused absolute chaos. I think this can mainly be attributed to Greig Johnstone decided to go into a central midfield role and putting Marcin at centre back. Wester Hailes capitalised on the afforementioned carnage with a swift break down the middle that caught us out due to Marcin not knowing whether he was centre-mid or centre half. Mike Kinsella was forced to rush out and despite Declan Kinsella’s best efforts to stop the ball going into the net Wester Hailes pulled back a goal to make it 3-1. After this goal Owen took it upon himself to ring in the changes from the sidelines and took me off for my Dad, and replaced Calum Day with Olsson. Shortly after this substitution we saw a brilliant piece of play from Wester Hailes down the wings that resulted in a truly amazing strike from 35 yards out in the middle of the park that unfortunately caught Mike off his line to make it 3-2. Despite the close nature of the scorline, the Volleys were still very much in control and we continued to push with some excellent dashing runs from left back by my dad and a brilliant through ball typical of the industry he’s shown in previous appearances which were unfortunate not to prove more productive. Looking to excert our dominance and capitalise on our almost constant pressure we started off a massive drive from Declan Kinsella at right back that was played into Ryan Mckenna in the centre and flicked on for the Leith Legend Andy McKinlay who charged down the right wing with electric pace, cutting into the box and putting away a square ball from Olsson on six yards to open his goalscoring account on his debut and make it 4-2. At this stage Wester Hailes were totally beat and despite a spirited performance it was evidently game over for them and despite some excellent play from the ever-bright Olsson the final whistle was blown ending the match at 4-2.

A victory, at last. After a lengthy wait for the taste of glory again we were able to finally walk away from a brilliant performance with the proverbial three points in the bag. Every single player is able to come away feeling good with themselves after this game. Despite having a fairly quiet night Mike Kinsella put in yet another solid shift making some brilliant saves and was very unfortunate not to bag a clean sheet. The relatively unexperienced Lewis continually pushed himself and made some critical challenges, Declan Kinsella again proved a surprise package for the opposition with a physically intimidating performance and some smart balls to Andy on the right wing. Gordon Mackenzie was once again intensely impressive with a very solid performance that included a well converted goal, and combined well with Greig Johnstone who together kept us very tight at the back. I was please with my own performance with numerous nutmegs, but must concede that at times I was trying to do too much and could definitely put in a more focused performance. Ken Dick was tremendous when he came on for me with an unforgettable contribution that sadly didn’t lead to a goal. Matty Tulloch again won every thing on his wing and did some good work tracking back. Clarky’s contribution was brilliant again proving himself for the umpteenth time with a great ball from a corner for our second goal. Ryan “Georgie Best” McKenna continued his reputation with some brilliant close play linkin up well with wingers and forwards. Andy Mckinlay proved himself worthy and justified his trek from Leith with some brilliant movement and a great goal. Owen Kinsella again defied all medical advice to put in a quality performance that once again saw him strike the back of the net and continually trouble the Wester Hailes defence with his trademark cutting runs. Marcin did well once the confusion was settled and made some critical challenges. Calum Day was massively unfortunate not to open his account after some mad goalmouth action, and its now clear that its all psychological for him. Olsson brought with him some technically intelligent play when he came on and caused utter chaos and had he started the match would certainly have made a massive difference. However man of the match award goes to Mark Valentine for an immense fitness defying performance. Continually creating opportunities from his unfavoured central midfield position, never being afraid to track back and doing a great job to put away the goal to make it 3-0.

A performance that truly showed how we have gelled as a team and now play together as a unit rather than eleven headless chickens. Man of the match realistically could have gone to anybody on the team. However one fact this match highlighted was the desperate requirement for a manager off the field. With the carnage caused by the substitution and myself and Owen having to make decision based on not offending people it has become crystal clear we need someone to fully manage. On this ocassion it only cost us one goal, but it needs to be rectified before it costs us a match. I have made moves for booking a game next Tuesday against the infamous Musselburgh Baptist Church and we can expect them to confirm on Thursday night or Friday morning. The best news of all is that there has been some major movement on the strip front, but at this stage I can’t fully reveal the extent of the progress as negotiations are still ongoing, but trust me, its big.

Keep the faith

JD