This week’s LSB VISL Game of the Week was at Braefoot between freshly promoted Vic West U23s and last season’s runners-up, Lakehill. It was a feisty affair, with Vic West scoring in less than a minute to get us started while the crowd was still walking in.
The Lakehill keeper made a nice toe save to keep it a one-goal game, but shortly after, a beautiful through ball by Mathias Hallam led to a 2-on-1, resulting in Vic West going up 2–0 less than seven minutes into the match.
Lakehill then began to find their footing and managed several shots, though none were on target. In the second half, they kept pushing, featuring a couple of penalty shouts, until finally a shot from the edge of the box found its way through the Vic West defense and into the back of the net.
A couple of minutes later, Lakehill worked the ball into the box, where a mistimed tackle led to a penalty. They converted to square the game up. Lakehill weren’t done pushing yet — they generated more chances but failed to convert.
As the match neared its conclusion, Lakehill were called for a foul in the Vic West half. Vic West tried to take it quickly by kicking the ball into a Lakehill player to draw a card. The referee, without blowing his whistle, was speaking with the Lakehill player when the ball found its way to another Lakehill player wide open. Realizing the whistle never blew, he began to attack, only to be taken down in the box by the Vic West keeper.
Confusion followed: Lakehill players called for a penalty, while Vic West players were baffled by what had just transpired. Ultimately, the referee awarded a yellow card to the keeper, but Vic West were allowed to retake the initial free kick.
In what turned out to be the final action of the game, a Lakehill player was storming down the wing on a fast break after Vic West’s free kick went high. He was tackled viciously from behind, studs up, by a Vic West player. No card was shown, and the referee blew the game dead after more than 10 minutes of added time.
Final score 2-2
