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Had this been the
previous week, spectators could have been forgiven for
thinking that the Villa players had forgotten to put their
clocks forward! Darwen turned out for the scheduled 3.0pm
kick-off, but the home side pretty much failed to kick a
ball till the start of the second half, by which time the
visitors had strolled to a three goal lead, and although
Villa certainly made a better fist of it in the second half,
it was a lead that never seriously looked threatened.
Darwen fielded a
side that was a good mix of youth and experience, and whilst
the older heads used the ball economically and to good
effect, the younger legs chased and harried and generally
never gave their opponents a minute’s piece. Villa, on the
other hand, gave the impression that having beaten Darewn
twice already this season at their place, they only had to
turn up and the points would be assured.
Such complacency
contributed to the first goal, as the ball was carelessly
presented to Garry Brown thirty yards from the Villa goal,
and such was the ferocity of his instant strike, it had hit
the back of the net before anyone, especially the rooted
Ross Baxter, could react to the mistake.
Rocked by this
early set-back, Villa if anything descended into even more
disarray, and Baxter was soon tested again, but got two
strong hands on a low drive to push it to safety. Down the
other end, Ryan Lilley and Alf Gutteridge did manage to test
the visitors’ back line, but two defenders got back to snuff
out the danger.
Further woe was
heaped upon the beleaguered Villa defence with little over
fifteen minutes on the watch, though much of it was of their
own making. Frantic attempts to clear the lines from a
corner resulted in a scramble in front of goal, which
resulted in a Darwen striker being upended as he was about
to pull the trigger. Karl Turner despatched the resultant
spot kick with aplomb.
Mid way through the
half, the home side did manage to rally a little, and for
the first time were able to mount a period of sustained
pressure. Driving through the inside right channel,
Gutteridge saw an excellent shot across goal rebound back
into play off the far upright. Danial Hogg picked up the
loose ball and smashed it goalwards, but an outstretched leg
deflected it into the side netting. Minutes later, Gavin
Cooper worked the ball into a good position from a corner
and picked out Gutteridge lurking round the penalty spot,
but he couldn’t sort his feet out in time to get a
meaningful shot away.
The visitors were
still the more mobile and despite their two goal advantage,
still showed the greater urgency. But their third goal,
when it came shortly after the half hour mark, owed more to
their opponents ineptitude than their own endeavour. A
corner again from the Villa left, and Darwen were allowed
not one, but three unchallenged headers, the last of which
from Steve Lee hit the back of the net.
The changing room
walls were vibrating at half time, and indeed Villa did play
with much more purpose in the second half. However, the
damage had been done by that time, and it must be
acknowledged that some of the urgency had gone out of the
Darwen game, they being content to play a more containing
game. Telling chances were few, however, and there were
only about fifteen minutes left when Gutteridge shot wide,
followed soon after by an effort from distance from Tom
Whittaker, which although it flew just over, looked to have
more than a touch of desperation about it. Deep in stoppage
time, Hogg and Gutteridge combined well to set up Whittaker,
who rescued a small amount of pride with a controlled
finish, but of course too little, too late, and the fate
sealed by half time ground to the inevitable conclusion.
In his post match
comments, Mark McDonnell assured that he had not changed the
shape which has worked so well since the turn of the year.
One can only conclude then, that some players chose to
ignore instructions and do their own thing. Whatever the
reason, it certainly didn’t work. Perhaps too many key
players were missing, (McAlister, Dunn, Heald, Conway,
Bingham, Dickinson), but those who stepped in would and
should be considered good enough, and indeed with the
congested fixture programme and continuing injury situation,
we will soon get another chance to find out. Only bright
spot in an otherwise black day was the promising First Team
debut of Chris McMahon, and Rick Wood did his cause no harm
either.
Villa Line- Up:
Ross Baxter, John Salisbury (Chris McMahon 42), Darren
Davies (Rick Wood 75), Lee Chambers , Sam Bolton, Matt
Plano, Alf Gutteridge, Gavin Cooper (Tom Whittaker 73),
David Warburton , Ryan Lilley, Danial Hogg.
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