Dear all,
We got our spring season underway yesterday with a tough
away game against Hotspur, who were top of the league. We were missing Frank and
Noah and we had Matt C playing up from the White team. The game started of well
and both teams were trying to play the right way and it was shaping up to be
good game. It was back and forth and no team could gain the upper hand for the
first few minutes until a goal for our team and this seemed to settle us down
and this also made Hotspur uneasy. For the remainder of the first half I felt we
controlled the game and passed the ball around beautifully at times. Our
defenders did a great job of staying in shape and maintaining a good defensive
line. I wanted to play counter attacking football and I thought we executed this
excellently, we kept our shape and Hotspur commited players forward and we hit
them on the break with great imapact. At half time it was 3-0 and I asked for
more of the same but with more width so we could possess the ball better and be
a little more patient in our play, at 3-0 we don't need to commit too many
players forward and press the game.
The second half got underway and I could see that
Hotspur were pushing harder, a few of our players looked a little complacent and
it was not surprising when Hotspur pulled one back to make it 3-1 early in the
second half. This was bit of a blessing in disguise because it made our team
realise that the game was not over and we responded well and we defended well,
always looking dangerous on the break. Again it was end to end throughout the
second half and we kept the ball well at times and created numerous chances. The
game sealer came late on and we ended up winning 4-1.
On the whole I thought we were terrific first half and
did what he had to second half. The boys deserved the win and I was especially
delighted after such low numbers at practice during the week (spring break).
This week I am going to be working on speed of play at the back and movement
from our mids/forwards to create angles for our defenders. 1-2 touch football
will help the speed of play along with switching the play.
Great effort!
Kind Regards
Coach David