THAT'S MORE LIKE IT !

Subs 

• Hill for McLoughlin
• Powell for Abbott
• P.Barber for Halloran

I hope everybody is impressed with the “Christmas tree” formation shown above.  We can’t be accused of being un-imaginative.  We have tried the 4-4-2, the diamond and all sorts of others so I figured, what the heck.  I woke up in a fairly festive anyway as I noticed I still had xmas lights in the bedroom window. 

To the match.  Can I just say that as far as passing a football goes this was right up there with the best performances by an Olton team.  The result didn’t reflect our dominance and I’m fairly sure that Solihull will be leaving thinking that they got off very lightly.  This was one of the most one sided games of football you could wish to see.  I am sure if you were there watching it you were suitably impressed.

After last Sundays horror show, Tuesday nights training session was aimed at being a bit of a wakeup call.  We felt the effort wasn’t there last week so the session was aimed at seeing who was and who wasn’t willing to work for the team.  The response was good and I left training pleased at the effort and level of commitment shown.  My parting words on Tuesday were that if anybody couldn’t look me in the eye after the Solihull game and guarantee me that they gave there all, then I would let them just head straight for the car park.

I wanted to see the work rate and the spirit that has seen us through tough times in the past.  I can handle poor results if I know we gave our all.

Today’s response was better than even I could have expected.  It would be easy to think 3-0 against Solihull is nothing to go mad about but the nature of the performance and the free flowing football was really good to watch.

The team saw several changes in personnel with Scott dropping into the back four.  Dean returned brilliantly at right back.  Our new look centre midfield was Alex and Mark and they both had brilliant games.  Henry went out to the left and added something that we have been lacking out wide.  Michael Halloran was given a role just behind Dylan after he had forced his way into the team with his great attitude and performances in training in recent weeks.

The whistle went and from then on we dominated every aspect of the game.  Ryan had 1 touch in the 1st half making a good save.  It was a deserved break for Ryan who has been so good in recent games when it has been like cannon fodder at our end; Scott quickly attached himself to the big lad and marked him out of the game brilliantly.  Dean and Jim were solid at the back and dangerous going forward.  Mikey was as consistent as ever and was sweeping up any other danger.

The biggest plus though was our midfield.  Right form the off we won almost every tackle.  It was great to see Matt and Henry tackling back where we have previously been vulnerable.  Mark and Alex were finding Michael Halloran in acres of space in the early stages and Michael was regularly picking out Dylan and Matt with precise through balls.  On that note we hadn’t seen the best of the new boy until today but he showed exactly what he was about and what a great addition he will prove to be to our squad.

Dylan and Matt caused all sorts of problems with their pace and hard work.  Matt once again terrorized the poor full back in another scintillating display.  Matt has still yet to score for us but today he was unlucky 4 times.  I’m sure once one goes in the rest will follow. 

To the goals.  Well, we eventually got the deserved break through when Alex hit a cracking shot over the keeper.  Henry quickly made it two after yet another fantastic move down the right and a pin point cross from Matt.  The 3rd was a deserved goal for the new boy Michael who was also unlucky not to have scored more.  He skipped past two players before firing into the net.

It was great for me today to see such a strong subs bench.  I have never coached a squad as strong as the one we have right now.  To see Graham, CJ and Paul waiting to come on was great for me.  Today I could have quite easily not made any subs as every player did so well. CJ did particularly well when he went on.  His passing was crisp and he even had a great chance to score. 

All in all a decent result but a great performance.  And a great response to Tuesday night.  We have tough games coming up with Heathway and Ulverley in the next few weeks so a confidence boosting win was crucial.  Well done lads.

I hope this report goes down a little better than last weeks with everyone.  ha

Steve