Volunteer Arms Football Club

With the shadow of an 8-1 defeat looming large like the morning after a gallon of Jaipur we required some serious firepower to overcome such a nonsense result and get our league campaign underway. I received an email a couple of weeks ago after my gumtree campaign looking for teams for our league from a player looking for a team to play for when he moves to Edinburgh from Mendoza in Argentina. Its not every day an Argentinian footballer called Diego comes knocking for free so I got him along for the game to let him see what we were about. After my Dad picked myself and Diego up from Teuchters Landing we headed for Peffermill our adopted home ground for the summer. This match being our first league fixture Owen had worked long and hard setting up the squad for the match. Starting between the sticks was Sach, in defense (left to right) J.C Dick (captain), Jamie Stevenson, Louie, and Declan Kinsella, midfield (l-r) Clarky, Tulloch, Ryan McKenna, and Espie. Up front was the partnership of Owen Kinsella and Val and starting on the bench were; Dougie Todman, Andy McKinlay, and Diego Porras the wonderman from Mendoza.

Clad in purest white Sykes looked a mean outfit with formalised pre-match warm ups, we looked….relaxed in the classic Plockton set up doing keepie ups and asking the ref to hold back kick off for 5 minutes while half our team got changed. All the lads were soon out and ready and Sykes won the toss choosing to give us the kick off. The Volleys kicked off the way they would continue with some smooth passing football all over the park making rushing runs forward with some great overlapping play between Declan Kinsella and Espie. Unfortunately despite ruling the roost for the first 20 minutes VAFC were the first to capitulate. A Sykes corner came drifting into the box and after a couple of scrappy knock ons the ball was headered into the bottom right corner of the Staggs net. A bit of a cheap goal conceded but unlike on previous occasions the heads didn’t drop and play got underway again as if nothing had happened. The sharp passing resumed with some deft play with Sach continuously threatening with dangerous goal kicks for Val and Owen to run on to. On one such occasion the Sykes goalkeeper came bombing out and clattered Owen and realistically a booking or worse was merited, but as always it is a particularly hard situation to judge due to estimating intent. After posing such a threat for a sustained period of time the equaliser seemed a certainty. The volleys won a corner and the ball was dispatched into the box, Espie knocked the ball on to the centre of the box and Tulloch belted home on the volley into the bottom right corner of the net to restore parity. Back in business Staggs looked to nab another before half time but despite numerous attempts and Val coming close it didn’t come, even though a dubious goal from Owen was chalked off for offside.  Half time was blown and the teams went into the break equal by scoreline, but certainly not in threat.

The match restarted with both sides unchanged and the Volleys looking to push on and take advantage of the sharp attacking football played in the first half. I could see Diego jogging around the pitch pensively and it was evident he was desperate for football. This hunger had to be stoked for a little longer before unleashing our secret weapon upon Sykes. Often half time can prove more unsettling than anything else and Sykes threatened immediately after kick off catching me napping but thankfully Jamie and Louie were there to mop up and the threat never amounted to anything. After this Staggs turned up the pressure and began what would prove to be 45 minutes of relentless pressure as we sought the lead. As before Sach’s goal kicks continued to threaten and Owen was unfortunate not to capitalise on one particular attempt. Pushing up the park at such pace was beginning to wear on some and it was clear a fresh pair of legs were required on the wing. It was time to use the nuclear option substituting Clarky for Diego Porras. Diego unleashed his own brand of hell on the wing from the off tearing up and down the wing jinking into the box to make a couple chances. It was particularly funny when we was scythed down by a Sykes defender and was met by a wall of spanish (presumably swear words) from Diego. Despite a slight language barrier the team continued to play well with tremendous play from Tulloch linking up with the forwards.  The break was soon to come and after the ball broke from a corner Diegostuck the ball into the back of the net to make it 2-1 to the men from Musselburgh/Mendoza. Two more changes were made with Espie being replaced by Andy McKinlay and Owen being replaced by Douglas Todman. I chose to switch Dougie to the left wing and put Diego in his peferred centre forward role. The attacks continued to rain in with Tulloch and Ryan McKenna proving essential in creating play in the middle of the park. Sykes did push out a couple times but these were cooly dealt with by Louie as he had done the entire match. The match was nearing completion but after playing such attacking football the Volleys still pushed to set the seal on the game with another goal. Time seemed to be running out but with a great run down the wing from Andy linking up with Diego, and 10 yards of jinking and shoulder dropping the ball was sent into the bottom right corner of the net to make it 3-1 and the final whistle was blown. 3 points in the bag and VAFC were top of the league.

Tremendous start to the ’season’ and an amazing signing for Staggs. However the contributions from everyone added up to bag three points. Sach was never really asked to make a save but his goal kicks were an ever present threat and was unlucky not to bag what would technically be an assist. In defence Declan Kinsella was very effective going forward and continued to be the surprise package dealing with opposition  twice his size and age. Jamie and Louie were ever solid in central defence having never played there before and provided superb cover. Clarky caused problems on the wings with his pinpoint crosses and joined up well with the rest of the team. Ryan Mckenna and Tulloch proved essential in distributing the ball and creating attacks from nothing. Espie proved a physical threat and did very well to knock on for Tulloch to volley home. Owen and Val worked exceptionally well together and were unlucky not to score despite having one chalked off. All the substitutes performed well with Andy and Dougie contributing with some excellent runs linking up with the forwards. Diego scored twice, played well, passed well, shot well, ran well, and slotted right into the squad. Louie was awarded the celebratory bottle of Joseph Perrier man of the match champagne by the referee for his consistently brilliant performance at the back that lead to the creation of a tight defensive unit. A brilliant match and a great sign of things to come.

Keep the faith

JD