28th January 2007

Scorers: Kane Joseph, Ryan Hine

This was not one of our better footballing displays, however, we battled very well and gained another win and with it another 2 points. The match started with both teams looking to gain the upper hand. The game in the first half was played mainly in the muddy cut up middle of the pitch instead of the much better conditioned wide areas of the pitch… If you are asked to play wide you are asked for a reason! We play much better football when we have width so please STAY WIDE when you can….. As I said the football wasn’t great but we did battle well especially at the back with Sam and Luke tackling and clearing their lines when needed and Stanley playing a sweeper/goalkeeping roll (or vice versa). Big plus this week was the length Stanley was getting on his goal kicks even when kicking against the wind! Must be something to do with his warm up routine that his dad puts him through (well done John).

The times when we did play football in the first half (width, ball moving, supporting etc) resulted in the only goals of the first half, neatly put away by Ryan and Kane J. Half time came and I was confident that we had done enough playing against the wind with a 2-0 lead.

The second half was similar to the first they had chances to break through but were denied by good defending and covering. We also had chances but we seemed to make it very easy for them to defend by dallying on the ball or making the wrong pass at the wrong time. Sometimes we need a little more snap in our play! Tackling is also something that we need to work on and will do once we are able to train on grass again. There are times when we dangle a foot instead of putting in a solid tackle, believe me you are less likely to get hurt putting in a solid tackle…

All in all a few things to work on and we need a really good team performance this weekend to put us all in a positive frame of mind for next Sundays big game.

Man of the Match as voted for by the parents Sam Greehy – Well done curly.