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They came with a bad reputation and left with a spring in their step, as they came to the great Earls Colne giveaway.
‘Lets break their legs’ was the chant from the visitor’s dressing room. Charming. The message to our lads was about ignoring the insults and the intimidation and focussing on the ball. With five in midfield I hoped to stop Louis and Harry looking so isolated as they have done in recent weeks.
The match was played in wind and rain, which did not help the control of the ball. In the early exchanges we looked nervous and once again resorted to crowding the ball, swinging aimlessly and constantly giving away possession. I was not happy that two of the first half goals came from strikes outside the box, despite us having 3 centrally placed midfielders, and that the third goal was scored from the head of the smallest boy on the pitch.
Despite this, I was quite pleased. We were slowly gaining some control and in phases putting together some good moves. We had a goal ruled offside – the views about this were mixed, and so felt that at 3-0 down at half time we were slightly unlucky.
Within seconds of the second half starting our defence vanished but popped up just in time to score an own goal. The second half basically went as follows – Our midfielders worked extremely hard creating numerous chances which our strikers failed to capitalise on. Louis hit the post and Harry could have had a hat-trick. Meanwhile our defence leaked goals for fun. Terrible control, weak tackling and poor decision making left Thomas stranded time after time. Louis finally scored gaining us some pride.
I felt we didn’t deserve to lose so badly, but we were to blame for our misfortune. ‘How we can consistently shoot straight at a tiny keeper rather than at the goal that dominated him, or how we can let almost any attack result in a goal against us?’ will be questions that keep me awake at night. Also how many times can we head the brand new football into the road? Here endeth the rant.
I thought Harry C, Jack and Joe had really good games, as did Louis, but the man of the match was Calum H – where others flapped he looked at all times strong and in control.
Thanks to Val for snacks, Kevin for running the line and to all the supporters. Special thanks to the Fordhams for washing the kit for the second week in a row.
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