I think somewhere into my third pint last
night I roped myself into writing the match report. Be warned
that there are always three truths, mine, yours and what actually
happened. I will do my best to relay what I can but bear
in mind I'm still a little groggy. |
| Whoever it was we played last night
we beat them 2-0 in the last group game of the bottom two divisions
cup. Needing only not to be beaten by 6 goals to qualify
for the knockout phase we displayed our customary benevolence
and condescended to play our opposition at their own standard.
Considering that they are bottom of the league below us it was
quite a magnanimous gesture. |
| Quite possibly we could have won
the game by more goals. There were two clear chances late
in our abbreviated match, one falling to Tom and the other to
our captain Pete after he was played in by a selfless Joe who
had come on for Tom in the last stage of the match. Pete
showing his customary reluctance to score fluffed his shot and
when the rebound fell to Joe the shaky frame of the goal stood
firm and the ball went out of play off the outside of the left
post. Their goalie also made two very good reflexive saves.
But, by in large with storm trooper like accuracy we shot a lot
and missed a lot and the buckled goal frame of one end and the
shaky one at the other where in no true danger. |
| It was though a night of quiet achievement
by our defence. The miserly bastards only let the opposition
one clear shot on goal that was on target, the other two went
harmlessly wide. Our new goalie was thus reduced to a Petr Cech
like role of mopping up the odd long ball that wandered into the
no man's line behind our defence. With Michael in goal (not
me the other one) Rob was free to play on the field. This
added a new dimension to our game that has been lacking for a
while. |
| Although not everyone agrees with
me on this point I thought there was good link up play on both
flanks. Starting in defence, up to the midfield and through unto
the strikers. Several such fluid passing moves were unlucky not
to result in goals. However there was little linking play
between the midfield players to each other. The result was
we dominated the game with only a forward line and a defence.
Better teams would have been able to exploit this and tear us
to shreds so its a good thing the other side were reliant on the
long ball. |
Despite the lack of shape in the
middle, there is another very positive point to take away from
the game. Thanks to the very high quality of ball supplied by
Rob and the presence of Mark ("go find yourself an area")
and Steve, we are very good in dead ball situations. Again
we were unlucky that we did not score from more corners despite
winning nearly every ball in the air. But luck goes both ways
and the ref (who clearly didn't want to be there) gave us an indirect
free kick for no reason at all late in the first half. Another
excellent ball that miraculously hit Mark in the head whilst not
seeming to change the direction of its flight path in any way
found the back in the net. Mark's return up the field tapping
is hand against his head made me wonder if he could rub his tummy
at the same time. Anyway he was credited with the goal and
it was all good. |
| The second strike midway through
the second half was flawless. When the opposition defence
on the left hand side dropped away, Tom with all the time in the
world to visualise the shot, struck a gracefully curling ball
from nearly thirty yards out that nestled into the top right corner
of the goal and left their hapless goalie clutching at nothing
but the mist that settled over the pitch. |
| After the game a good turn out went
along to Rosie's for what turned out to be quite a detailed discussion
about many aspects of our game. After the lock in and at
the time I left as far as I can tell the following points were
(in no particular order) discussed and agreed: |
| 1. The goals at the ground are shit.
Although they have been shit for a while now the ref had decided
that for whatever reason that we couldn't possibly use them and
we should all go home. This directly impacted on the match as
after we had already delayed kick of by 15 minutes to ensure that
we could field our full strength quad from the start the game
was further delayed by the goal débacle resulting in a
game that was reduced to two 35 minute halves. |
| 2. There are a lot of educated people
in our team. We are all articulate and vocal with our opinions
and that this is leading to chaos when it comes to the tactical
elements of our play. Particularly at half time everyone is talking
and no one is listening. Agreeing that we cannot continue
this way we have opted to adopt the following procedure.
From now on we will at half time all go back into the changing
room. Mark will then address the team regarding tactical
matters and we will adopt these for the following half.
Our indomitable captain Pete will continue in his motivational
role both on and off the pitch. |
| 3. The ref was bad, but consistent
and unbiased. As a result of his interpretation of the laws
with regard to contact when contesting for ball he negated our
size advantage. Personally though I do not feel that we
played this right. Regardless of their quality when any
ref has an interpretation of any particular rule and is enforcing
it consistently, it is simply stupid not to change the game style
so as not to give away free kicks. Again on the night we
were lucky that the other side did not have the skill to exploit
a lot of free kicks that were given away just inside our own half. |
| 4. With regard to sponsorship we either have
to find a nearby pub that will have us, a local shop or service,
or give someone a better deal in our commercial capacity if only
they will sponsor the team. A calendar was mentioned but
it was not my idea. |
| 5. At training on Monday we will play a five
(or whatever number we are) aside game where you are the only
person who can tackle the person you are supposed to mark.
It sounded like a good idea at the time |
|
That's about it from me. We won, we're through
to the next round of this cup - which given league standings
we should be in a good position to win, and we had a useful
discussion at the end of the match. Overall I think we
got a lot out of it and going forward I think the Albion is
in good shape.
|
| Mikey |
