Southbank were again short on numbers for this clash with league leaders Victoria Rest but still had a reasonably strong side out. 

The game started reasonably evenly with Southbank probably edging the early exchanges and they took a deserved lead on 20 minutes when Steve Woodrow latched onto a through ball from Malcolm Everest before firing an unstoppable shot into the roof of the net.

This sparked a spell of Victoria Rest possession but the well-organised defence prevented any clear-cut chances.  It was Southbank who had the best chance of the rest of the half when Woodrow latched onto another through ball from Everest before taking on two defenders and shooting just over with his unfavoured foot.

The second half continued very much in the same vein as the first.  Victoria Rest had more of the ball but didn’t create anything.  Very little football was being played in midfield as Victoria resorted to long ball tactics.  Steve Woodrow was put through again but his shot was comfortably saved by the Victoria keeper before the gobby little rude boys gained an undeserved, scrappy equaliser after their gobshite centre forward beat the offside trap on the hour mark.

Steve Woodrow went close to scoring another at the other end but every chance seemed to be falling to his weaker foot.  Then Southbank conceded what turned out to be the winner with 5 minutes to go after a Victoria midfielder scuffed his shot into the ground, wrong-footing goalkeeper Ian Harvey.

This wasn’t the end of the action as the biggest talking point was still to come.  Steve Woodrow scored a perfectly good equaliser after a neat one-two with Charlie Cook.  The linesman did what the Victoria manager told him to do and flagged for offside but the referee could see that it wasn’t and awarded the goal.  That was until every Victoria Rest player, official and supporter surrounded the ref and intimidated him into disallowing the goal.

The ref was weak and should not be involved in men’s football.

If Victoria Rest want to win the league that way, then good luck to them.  We don’t need cunts like that in our division next year.

Team: Harvey, Hankinson, Edwards, Tappern, Fitzpatrick, Cook, Lobato, Persuad, Guppy, Woodrow, Everest (Pugh)