Sunday 27th January 2008
Earls Colne 0 – Halstead 8
The last time we played Halstead we lost 4-0, due to 4 defensive howlers. I said to the boys as long as we cut out the mistakes, we should be ok. Unfortunately the confident team that worked so hard against Heybridge were in a much more charitable mood, and by half time we had given them 5 goals.
To be fair, the blame cannot be put solely on the defence, as the midfielders didn’t help much by either not challenging for balls or giving possession away cheaper than a pound shop sale.
It was pretty dire stuff. Halstead didn’t score any decent goals in the first half – they didn’t need to. ‘What’s happening Dave?’ said James Chamley, ‘I don’t know James.’ was my pitiful response.
The second half came, and with a few changes made, we suddenly started to play so much better. Harry was causing the defence all sorts of problems, Louis was starting to find his range, and Luke, Sam and James were starting to put together good sequences of passing. At the back George was immense. Time after time he dealt with Halstead attacks with confidence and aggression. We thoroughly deserved a goal, but we had offended the Gods of football so much with our first half display they refused to help us out, even when we had an open goal to aim at…
Halstead scored three more, but only the last was impressive, the other two being more down to us. I think we may need to apply as a VAT registered Charity, if we haven’t already.
Jake’s striking of the ball was immense, Harry had a great second half, Luke worked well and James had another good game, but the Man of the Match was George. He was also picked out by the Halstead manager, who kindly came over and told the boys that with a little more confidence we would be a much stronger team.
Many thanks to all those that helped getting stuff out and putting it away – it makes a big difference.
