Winchmore Hill 1s vs Old Lyonians 1s
SAL Cup
18 January
Outcome: Out the cup
Off the back of two very good performances we looked to capitalise on the momentum with a cup fixture against 3rd Division Old Lyonians. We knew little about them however having played them preseason we knew we would be facing a team prepared to give everything for each other and a team not prepared to simply roll over if the game went against them.
The low sun and oppo in Blue meant a change of kit again, this time into the old old white kit. Baggy in the middle, short in the arms. Dream fit.
Tom Corfe came back into the side and went straight in at centre half next to Weaver. Chapman at left back and Jennings Right.
The midfield had Lewis right, Tom King left and the familiar midfield triangle of Bex, Kieran and Sam Russel. Up top we had Barney with Jamie Doyle on the bench.
We had a solid start. The game did seem to start at a ferocious pace despite it being a bit end to end.
Lyonians plan seemed to keep their left winger high, get forwards and put a few men in the box and see what happened.
Sam Jennings worked hard up and down the right hand side to snuff that threat out and Kieran played smart, covering when Sam went forwards.
Although scrappy, we won our fair share of second balls in the middle and when we got the ball to feet and moved it across the midfield we had time to start picking out more dangerous passes.
The combination of Sam Jennings and Tommy K looked most threatening, we sadly couldn’t quite find that final ball to create a guilt edged chance. Balls into the box were either cut out or floated desperately close but over everyone in the box.
With the few chances we did create, our shooting was woeful. I can’t think of a single time we troubled their keeper. Not 100% sure we had a shot on target. These missed chances would go on to haunt us in the second half.
Will Deamer again made some fine saves in the first 45, keeping the scores level at 0-0.
Disappointed not to be winning at half time but conscious of their threat we talked about keeping the intensity up. Keeping solid without the ball and making better choices in the final third.
We came out in the second half seemingly a completely different team though. We looked like we took our foot off the gas, just a little, but enough to encourage a spirited Lyonians.
We went behind to a free kick 10-15 minutes into the half. From 30 yards out the ball was delivered over the wall into the top corner. Nothing that could have been done to stop that.
Little over 5 minutes later, 2-0. A long ball down Lyonians left hand side was missed by 2 winch players. Lyonians got the ball across the box and it was stabbed home to double their lead and cause a real problem for The Hill.
Lyonians had the ball in the net a third time shortly after that but fortunately Winchmore were spared by the referee who saw a foul on Will Deamer in the process and the goal was chalked off.
Adding Jamie Doyle to the fold gave us a different threat down our left. Lewis went inside next to Kieran as we looked to get something from the game.
Corners and free kicks just wouldn’t land for us and our best chance, a fierce shot by Kieran, was brilliantly tipped over.
Reflecting on the game it just seemed worlds away from where we can be. Individually, everyone continued to put a shift in. When we think about what we did as a team though, we just didn’t connect well enough for 90 minutes.
Everyone is still learning. Whether we’ve played 1 game or 100 games together we still need talking though critical moments. Still need reminding of the right habits and still need geeing up to stop our heads dropping. N the second half especially we looked as though we had just accepted it wasn’t going to be our day and didn’t take the game by the scruff of the neck.
Bitterly disappointing following the run of performances we’ve had so far this year.
Compounding this result was news that results elsewhere mean we’ve slipped into relegation in the league. It’s now up to us to dig ourselves out of it.
Next Saturday is the Middlesex and Essex Cup. A tricky fixture at home against Old Aloysians. We need to bounce back and get behind each other on the pitch to carve out a performance and result we can be proud of. Still plenty of time to get a run of results in our favour.
MOM – Tom Corfe, welcome back.