NO WIN YET IN 2005

Subs 

• Abbott for Askey
• Mcloughlin for Barnes

Unavailable - Mytton

Today saw us lose our 3rd league game on the trot and our bright start to the season is in danger of slipping away.  Two of the defeats were at the hands of the top two, Heathway and Knowle so I guess that is just life.  This shows how important it is to beat the weaker sides and the defeat against Solihull is now coming back to haunt us.  Today we were playing away at 2nd placed Knowle Eagles, which was always going to be a tough game.  Although there were certain aspects to be pleased with I thought one or two of our problems were highlighted greater today than in previous games.

Selection was going to be difficult, as CJ had earned his place in the starting team the week before.  That meant Deano coming in to midfield at the expense of the out of form Henry.  Alex was unavailable so Paul Barber piped Dylan for the place upfront with Graham.  New signing Michael Halloran started his first game on the right side of midfield.

We played a solid enough 1st half against the wind.  We had a lot of defending to do and we did it well most of the time.  Ryan in goal was also at his best in the 1st half and along with a little luck from the post and crossbar we had kept the score to a reasonable 1-0.  We created the best move of the 1st half with a flowing move down the right.  Eventually the ball fell to Graham who miss kicked his shot wide.  All in all the 1st half display was solid and got better as the half wore on.  CJ, James, Mark and Mikey were excellent and most of the other lads were working hard to keep us in the game.

The 2nd half should have been a different story and we did attack a lot more.  This led to our 1st problem.  When we defend we tend to keep a fairly solid 4-4-2 shape.  This goes to pot when we have the ball and certain players think that means they have a license to drift all over the place.  That’s all well and good until you lose the ball again.

The 2nd issue was Knowles ease at taking short goal kicks, throw ins and corners.  Our players (particularly our forwards) don’t mark people tight enough and we made it too easy for Knowle to clear the danger.

We had looked the better side in the 2nd half and we got our break with about 15 mins left.  I think it was Paul who was bundled over, which led to a penalty.  Mark stepped up and struck it well but it was a nice height for the Knowle keeper, who to be fair, made a very good 1 handed save.

After that the heads seemed to drop a touch and Knowle took control again.  Matt and Paul did have shots saved before Knowle scored 3 late goals.

Summarised we defended very well for 30 minutes and had the game there for the taking in the 2nd half.  All of the lads worked well for 30 minutes but in the 2nd half I could only really see the hunger and belief that we could win coming from certain players.  A special mention to CJ for his man of the match award and to Paul Barber for teaching the other forwards that its not all about scoring goals.  You can still contribute to the team.  2 or 3 players have really disappointed since Christmas and they will be on the last chance against Moor Green on Sunday before I will have to look at the subs bench for new ideas.

This Sunday has become a huge MUST WIN game for us.

 Steve