Victory comes away with a tight draw

April 2 2014

Shepparton News

Cobram Victory came up against last season’s premiers Shepparton United on the weekend, and although dominating large patches of the match, struggled to convert many good chances as it came away with a 1-1 draw.

Victory welcomed new recruit Charlie Romain to the line-up in place of the suspended Cameron Miles and Victory took the ascendancy early as they pushed the United back line without taking their chances.

A Clark-free kick set up Spencer whose header was well saved by the keeper before the keeper was again called into action off a Romain free kick, but Victory just couldn’t break the deadlock.

Victory was well on top in possession and holding tight in defence, but were dealt a blow when Carpenelli went down with an injury and was replaced by Goldsworthy.

But Victory continued to press and finally broke through when Romain found space in the midfield and broke forward before striking a shot from 20 m out which ended up in the back of the net to give his side the lead after 20 min.

Victory didn’t back off and continued to press a defensive minded United outfit, and as Clark broke through past three defenders and his goal bound shot looked to double his side’s lead, before it came back off the post to deny Victory once again.

From the resulting clearance United broke forward quickly and Lamb broke through with only the keeper to beat and made no mistake levelling the scores just before half-time.

After the break it was more of the same as Victory dominated possession and restricted United to only long range efforts that didn’t pressure keeper Sauro, but it was their finishing that came into question as Victory continued to waste great chances with Clark, Romain and Henry all going close.

Late in the match Goldsworthy pushed forward and had a great strike to seal the win, but the United keeper was up to the challenge and made another good save as Victory just couldn’t break through for the elusive winner.

Although disappointed with the draw, coach Clark was impressed with his side’s performance and knows if they had turned up with their scoring boots the result could have been a lot different.

This Sunday Victory travels to Kyabram to take on Shepparton South looking to get back on the winners’ list.