Volunteer Arms Football Club

After Teuchters 2-0 victory over Sykes FC on Monday VAFC were left with plenty work to do to reclaim the summit of the Owen Coyle Super League sponsored by Joseph Perrier Champagne. Having played for Teuchters against Dunbar in a f riendly a couple months ago, Clarky, Owen and I had some idea of the task that lay ahead. A blazing hot June day in Edinburgh that plainly refused to cool was the backdrop for the second round of OCSL matches and after our friendly against New York Mellon Bank being cancelled due to widespread redundancies we were raring to get back in action.

Looking to retain the structure of the team we tried to keep a similar selection to recent matches. Sach in goals, in defence from left to right, J.C Dick, Louie, Israel, in midfield, Clarky, Michael McKenna, Ryan Mckenna, Diego Porras, and up front were Owen Kinsella and Val. On the bench were Dougie Todman and my Dad. Only one new start, Diego’s Spanish mate Israel brought in to fill the gap at the back. Playing on a pitch running East to West when I won the toss I chose for us to play towards the East so that in the Second half we might not have the sun right in our eyes. We started the match looking to maintain a solid start and keep things tight at the back. Unfortunately Dunbar had other plans for the start of the match looking to nab an early lead, which they got after catching our defence napping with a high line, Sach was left stranded and Dunbar went 1-0 up. A fairly typical start to a match, which is definintely something to be worked on. However heads didn’t drop and the workload on VAFC had just increased. In the searing heat the last thing required is to have to work harder but in true VAFC fashion we turned up the heat. The pressure was on with attacks raining down the wings and Diego causing chaos in his free midfield role. One such attack saw Diego belting down the right wing and crossing in leaving Owen Kinsella with a free header, which was sent careering straight into the back of peffermill playing fields, and not the net. A pretty promising sign of VAFC coming alive and causing problems for Dunbar. With consistent pressure the equaliser seemed fairly certain and it came from a foul on the edge of the Dunbar 18 yard box. Mikey McKenna was felled and stepped up to take the free kick sending it just over the wall and curling straight into the net on the mark of 40 minutes. A critical time to equalise, but another before half time would surely leave Dunbar fairly jiggered. This eventually did come from a rushing VAFC counter attack that saw Diego eventually hammer home inside the penalty box from Owen’s corner to nab the lead on the stroke of half time and make it 2-1.

At half time the chat was pretty simple, more of the same but tighten things up at the back. Unfortunately the sun hadn’t gone down at all and neither had the temperature so we were going to be playing with the sun in our eyes despite my choice of half. Despite the new rolling substitutes rule no changes were required and due to Dunbar ringing in the changes constantly they were never short of fresh legs. After half time they looked a little rejuvinated and came out of the traps well with a couple of decent attacks and looked to threaten but never capitalised on this despite getting in behind the defence and facing an open goal a couple times the score remained at 2-1. In spite of this second wind VAFC turned things up again and got things moving with some excellent passing between Diego and everybody and Ryan Mckenna distributing well between the wings. Dunbar were beginning to flag a little and this taken full advantage of with numerous counter attacks from all angles. VAFC decided to change things a little bringing Val off for Dougie Todman to try and extend the lead with a fresh pair of legs up front. This turned out to be a tremendous decision with Ryan Mckenna releasing the ball to Dougie down the right wing who switched the ball over to Owen on the opposite wing, who then sent in a delicate cross the Mikey Mckenna converted with a bullet header to make it 3-1 to VAFC. By this stage VAFC’s brand of football was beginning to work its magic and Diego’s free role was really causing chaos for Dunbar. Another Staggs attack burst forward with Declan Kinsella linking up excellently with the midfield to create a change for Mikey Mckenna to dispatch a shot into the back of the Dunbar net taking the lead to 4-1. Dunbar’s heads never dropped at all despite this lead and they began to turn things up with some brilliant seeking balls, one of which should have been easily dispatched into orbit by me but for some bizarre reason I decided to try and perform a backheel nutmeg, unsurprisngly the ball was lost and the Dunbar attacker was through to stick home their second goal on the hour mark and make it 4-2. In the extreme heat I was beginning to flag, so I decided to substitute myself off for my Dad after a fairly mixed performance. VAFC were keen to restore the sheen to a tremendous performance and the attacks rained in again and again with Diego unlucky not to score from a half volley inside the box and Owen Kinsella finishing off a hat trick of missed opportunities with 2 gilt edged chances going begging. In this case I think Eric Cantona’s words are particularly pertinent here when he says “Those who are afraid to roll the dice, will never roll a six”. With the match drawing to a close it seemed as 4-2 was going to be the result but a low cross from Owen looking for Dougie on the goal line was deflected into the net by the Dunbar centre half to make it 5-2 with only a couple of minutes to go. Staggs continued to threaten but with only a couple of minutes to go and a 3 goal lead the pressure was off and the full time whistle was blown on an enthralling encounter to send VAFC back to the top of the table on goal difference.

A brilliant performanced that saw us maintain our 100% record in the Owen Coyle Super League sponsored by Joseph Perrier Champagne. This would not have been possible without Sach’s unforgettable performance between the sticks that saw him command his area with style picking the ball out of the air on numerous occasions. Declan Kinsella proved unmissable also due to his incredible workrate and doing well going forward to link up with midfield players. New signing Israel played particularly well and we will be glad to see him back again. Louie followed up his man of the match performance against Sykes FC with another solid showing and was a definite contender for man of the match. My dad did superbly going forward when he came on and did well to cut out play down the wing on a few occasions. Clarky put in a trademark shift with marseilles carousels and pin point accurate crossing. Mikey McKenna played superb football from start to finish and brought our equaliser through a gold standard free kick that any player would be extremely proud of. His brother Ryan had a sterling game as well releasing the ball down the wings for the forwards and worked superbly with Diego to frustrate the Dunbar midfield and defence. Owen Kinsella put in a brilliant showing and should be extremely proud of his work in setting up other goals. Val showed his usual workmanship and was always in prime positions for scoring and setting up opportunities. Val’s replacement Dougie Todman performed well also, being part of a great combination that lead to Mikey’s header. However the referee’s man of the match and recipient of the wee Joseph Perrier bottle was Diego Porras the Puma King for the work put in his free midfield role. In a fashion typical of Johan Cruyff Diego went from wing to wing distributing the ball with effortless brilliance and threatened every time he went forward. All in all a top level performance that has set up a brilliant encounter against Teuchters FC that could prove decisive in where the title race goes.

Keep the faith

JD