All wrong for sorry Vikings

Published on 28th September 2006 in Sport

Woodley Sports 4, Goole AFC 1

An ordinary display by the match officials could not detract from a disappointing performance in defeat at Woodley Sports on Saturday afternoon.

And to make matters worse, they lost Chris Hill and substitute Mike Norbury to dismissals and defender Kieron O'Brien to a recurring groin injury which is going to need complete rest to cure it. In addition, even new signing Marc Thompson was limping near the end, as was Paul Palmer.

The sending-offs reduced Goole to nine men, and although Woodley's Horrocks also saw red in the Norbury incident, the damage to the Vikings had already been done long before that. In Chris Hill's case, it was careless rather than malicious, and if ever a case for common sense should have been used, that was it. There was no doubting Hill brought down Douglas-Pringle, and the argument over whether he had any need to do it is another point entirely, but the striker was not going to score from where the ball was going, and two defenders were covering the line. If the penalty had been awarded, and Hill booked, 2-1 and 11 men on the field would have given the Vikings a chance to regroup, but as it was with O'Brien already off by then, they were already struggling to shuffle the pack.

As Adam Morning beat Nigel Danby from the spot, that effectively killed the game.

All this after Goole had recovered from a nightmare start on Woodley's artificial pitch, when Douglas-Pringle slotted home unmarked from a right-wing cross with less than two minutes gone, Rob Constable with a stunning free kick left Higginbottom stranded with an response within three minutes in a hectic opening.

And Goole coped well with the higher than normal bounce with a good game in prospect.

All that changed with O'Brien limping off to be replaced by a second debutant Curtis Bitton-Price, then the Hill dismissal, the penalty and suddenly the whole game changed.

Having said all that, Nigel Danby, Peter Shilton, Gordon Banks - all three of them together would have got nowhere near Headley's stunning 35-yard shot from a short free kick on 40 minutes. It arrowed into the top right-hand corner with pace.

Eight minutes into the second half and the Vikings, who had made a good start to the half, found themselves 4-1 down and looking down the barrel.

Curley was the recipient as he latched onto a pass which split the defence.

Mike Norbury and Jimmy Gore introduced, and within eight minutes the former was taking a walk to the dressing room with Luke Horrocks after both came to blows in the far corner.

It was to sum up the Vikings' afternoon and although they rallied well their luck was out there, too, with Chris Tate finishing off a well-worked four-man move with a flashing header past Higginbotham, only for the assistant to have his flag raised.

That was a questionable decision, but there was no doubt Paul Palmer was onside moments later on to Gore's pass, but when the flag was raised he stopped in frustration.

Add to that Thompson's 40-yard shot and Goole did at least show some spirit but somehow, somewhere the season which started prominently needs an injection of life and an improvement in discipline if it is not to sink into another battle in the lower half of the table.

Time is there, of course, but with injuries growing as well, they could ill afford that in cup week.