OLTON V ULVERLEY

Subs

• Grady

• Foster

• Abbott

A defeat yes, and a good Ulverley side will probably leave feeling that they were always comfortable, but all of the effort, that was not there against Chelmsley, was on display today and I cannot fault the players commitment. Sometimes you just get beaten by a team that plays better than you and in this division we knew that there would be times that this happened.

When you are on a tough run you need to catch a few breaks here and there. This is evading us at the moment. We needed a boost and we should have had it when an early goal was ridiculously ruled out for offside. Our honesty can often work against us in this league as unfortunately there are a small number of people out there who are determined to win at all costs. Personally I don’t know how these guys sleep at night knowing that they are conning children. After several years in Central Warwickshire these individuals gain reputations so you always know what you are going to get from them. So I do not think anybody was surprised to see the flag go up when it did. Ross was definitely offside and in the 1970s I’m sure the decision was right. Unfortunately the game has moved on unlike certain linesman that we face.

Anyway, this is no slur on Ulverley who are team I have always liked. Honest, hardworking players, coaches and supporters and from what I can see they play the game the way it should be played.

Today we would be up against it as our only recognised goalkeeper was away. Graham went in goal and other than for an early mistake he put in a tremendous performance for the team.

After Ulverley's 1st goal our players' heads visibly dropped. Knowing that we should have already been in front didn’t help things. To be fair, from this point on Ulverley bossed the 1st half. Our back four were resolute. Peter and Dayle marshalled the flanks and Matt and Mark competed with Ashley and Tom well. These forwards are proven Premiership players and Ulverley always seem to have a host of new signings every time we come across them.

With the wind in our faces we were really holding on until half time. With 5 mins to go we conceded a poor goal from a corner and shortly after a through ball put the left-winger in on goal. Half time 0-3.

The 2nd half was slightly more even with Rob testing the keeper a few times. Dayle put a few dangerous crosses over but the ball always seemed to evade our forwards.

Ulverley snatched another goal as the game finished 4-0 amongst some brave defending from our lads at the back.

I really did watch the 2nd half closely and it is quite clear that we are losing the midfield battle more weeks than not. We are spending far too much time in our own half. The opposition midfielders seem a yard quicker than ours. Always getting to the ball 1st and winning the majority of the headers. I thought Rob took control toward the end today as Mark did toward the end of the Chelmsley game. It is an area that needs looking at as we need to be playing more of the game in the opposition half.

We are now regretting the earlier games in the season where we dropped points in very winnable games. We were always going to hit a tough run of fixtures at some point and without points on the board we must dig in, stick together and come through it as a better team. Cadbury are next and what a fantastic opportunity to bounce back and turn the tide once again.

Steve