Taunton C.S A vs Taunton Vale D

"And dying in your beds, many years from now, would you be willing to trade all the days from this day to that for one chance, just one chance, to come back here and tell our opponents that they may take our lives, but they'll never take our 4 – 2 WIN OVER VALE?" Mel Gibson aka William Wallace (1995)

The day had finally arrived for the rearranged fixture against Taunton Vale. Just 14 hours after a hard fought draw against East Devon B there were a few sore heads (not from the previous days game) being nursed.

Nevertheless Civil were able to field a squad of 14 players with man of the match Julian Brown stepping up to the mark to play in goal as a result of regular keeper, who shall remain nameless apparently having something better to do than to line up for the first derby game of the season.

Civil lined up in an unfamiliar 4-4-2 formation opting to shore up the defence and midfield for such an important fixture. The game commenced with Vale with the majority of the possession in the first few minutes. However the new look Taunton defence in the absence of their regular centre back and left back (who again apparently had better things to do on a Sunday) were able to cut out the final balls played through to Vale’s two high forwards. With Civil finally getting some possession things started to happen. Simon Jones and Will Free linked well on the left on a number of occasions getting the better their opponents down the left wing. However the deadlock was finally broken when James Coles drilled the ball into the area and the Vale keeper kindly stroked the ball with his kicker to allow Civil to benefit for second time this season from the new “own goal” rule. Civil continued to push with a devilish ball from Will Free into the “D” almost finding a deflection. It was in fact a deflection that gave Civil their second goal with Curtis Bradley expertly deflecting the ball into the net at the far post after a precision pass across the goal mouth. Look like all that deflection training paid off earlier in the season.

Vale were allowed to get back in the game after Civil failed to clear the ball after a short corner. The ball was reclaimed at the top of the “D” by the Vale forward who created room for himself to turn and shoot passed the outstretched Julian Brown.

Vale started the second half the stronger attacking down the right hand side and after a couple of short corners converted one to get back on level terms. Civil finally came back to life and continued to test the Vale defence with Simon Jones going aerial. It was however a defender who got Civil back in front. Ben Wit venturing forward made his way into the opposition “D” and after a one two with Conor Neal slotted the ball home. BOOM 3-2. It wouldn’t have been a victory without Civil’s top scorer to date getting in on the action. Mark Sawyer claimed his ninth goal of the season though not his prettiest as he bundled the ball over the line.

A 4-2 victory was more than enough to see Civil finally climb off the bottom of the table and get the goal difference back to 0. A job well done and congratulations to the whole team, to those who stepped. Well done boys.

Lets go for three more points before Christmas next week.