Winchmore 1s vs Alleyns 1s
SAL Div 1
05 October
Performance: Woeful.
This might as well be copied and pasted from 2 weeks ago minus the last goal.
It was the Centenary Day at the club which meant an early start. Players past and present arrived to have a photo at 1130.
New football kit was available.
Weather was mild and the pitches were looking lovely.
The squad, in jubilant mood, had their team photo followed by a few more pictures for the album. All was well.
And then it all fell apart.
Between getting changed from the photo to getting ready for the match, we’d lost a shirt. The team talk focused on bouncing back from the week before and with the re-introduction of Branners, Gylo and Corfe across the back line this should have provided some security and a platform from which to go and play football.
This simply wasn’t the case. For 35 minutes the work ethic was there. We contained the Alleyns front three, worked hard as a team to close down space and the only half chance was snuffed out by our veteran defender.
Then, it just fell to pieces. A quick throw in and Alleyns were in behind to tuck the ball away. 1-0.
5 minutes later and a corner fell to the feet of Alleyns who tucked it away from 4 yards. 2 easy goals.
2-0 down at half time and some very direct words from Lewis who quite rightly pointed out that these soft goals kill us. At a time when we need to be building from the front and fashioning our own chances we’re giving too many chances to be punished at the back.
Second half.
A chance to get back into the game. A chance not taken. 10 minutes in to the second period a free kick was swung in and met unmarked at the penalty spot. 3-0.
From there, Alleyns never really lost control. They had the freedom to take extra chances and appeared to find the space all over the park. They capitalised on their own performance by adding a 4th and 5th before the end of the game to condemn The Hill to a second heavy defeat in as many games.
A Phil Brown style dressing down after the game in the Purple’s technical area after the game and there were two things present.
1 – the complete frustration that we allowed this to happen again.
2 – the desire to solve this. The want to fix this as a team and make sure we stick together.
We go again Saturday against Actonians. There are no easy games in our football. This will be a battle and one we have to rise up and face head on. It’s still early in the season and the earlier we get our first win the better.