Bedford Park, Southport
Scorers: n/a
Despite finishing their pre-season campaign unbeaten, Ventura FC ended disappointed with what was a hard-fought game in difficult conditions. Given the standard of football played in their previous two fixtures, the expectation for this game was high. Unfortunately the Great British summer didn't help matters & made the conditions difficult for good passing football.
Even with the blustery conditions Ventura FC did create more than their opponents & will probably feel hard done to for not winning the game, the closest they came being a great effort from substitute Joey Lea that cannoned back off the bar late on.
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| The referee for Sunday's game |
The early proceedings were fairly quiet from both sides with Ventura being restricted to long range shots early on. Manager Carl Nolan was then forced off after only 4 minutes with a hamstring injury which will most likely keep him out of Ventura's opening league games. The game did however give two players their debut in a Ventura shirt, Matty Herron being given a run at centre-back & Portuguese newcomer Allison Frank being deployed on the left wing. As if competition for places wasn't tough enough already, the new signings were arguably amongst the best players on the pitch, giving more selection headaches for the manager.
The most satisfaction Ventura will have taken from the game is the clean sheet (the first of pre-season) & the fact that rarely was the defence troubled to any extent. The only real opportunity that fell the way of the Scarisbrick team was a cross that held up in the air making it difficult to clear. The oncoming Scarisbrick player handled the ball however & any danger was averted with the free kick given. Certainly Ventura keeper Graham Collum will have been pleased at having so little to do in the fixture & will enjoy having kept the clean sheet.
Overall however, despite the disappointment of not winning the game, Ventura go into the new season unbeaten & will look forward to their opening game of the 3rd division 2011/2012 season, home to ASM Athletic. If they can revisit the form of their two opening friendlies then a win & three points could be just perfect way to get their season off to a solid start.
Meanwhile, congratulations to Paul Leigh on winning the MOTM poll for the Legionnaries game with 6 votes. Suspicion has been raised however after a certain Joey Lea conceded to manipulating his votes. If he'd bagged the winner against the Scarisbrick I doubt he would have had to for this week.
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| Ventura struggle to find the breakthrough against the Scarisbrick Hotel Tactics:  |
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