Winchmore hill 7’s vs Old Parkonians Away lost 4-2 After such a good game last week it was disappointing to not go into the game with the same players but ‘it is what it is’ having to bring in 6 new players against a team we struggle against and no GK our back was already up against the wall. But we are learning to fight our way out of tight situations now. And I was extremely proud of the lads. The score line is very flattering for Old Parks as we played the best football for 70 minutes at least. Sticking with the 3-5-2 on a far much bigger pitch we wanted to test ourselves and learn more about each other in this formation. Our first goal came quite easily when one of the 6 new players Daniel Montejo-Jesus played an easy ball for Cooper to run down the line and with Muñoz stalling his run to the penalty box Cooper had cut it back then the opposition defender decided to do the rest for us instead 1-0 and a great start. Then in the last 10 minutes of the half we seemed to loose our way with only one person talking on the pitch and players beginning to doubt themselves and others on the pitch and then we conceded 2 quick fire goals. The first a simple mistake because of a lack of communication and a poor pass back on our half and it had gone passed all our players and goal keeper to land at the feet of the oppo to score in an open goal. Then the 2nd well Roshane had no chance made a great 1st save but then unfortunately the ball bounced away from him and rolled into the path of the striker for another tap in. Have to say Roshane who was our stand in keeper for the game who had done brilliantly and didn’t expect nothing more but his effort and heart to go in goal was immense. Half time came and we were 2-1 down and I had to be honest with what I saw and that was no one wanting the ball, players not playing their position, no communication on the pitch and a loss of energy and belief. Telling my senior players to stand up and be counted and lead by example. Then I made 2 changes and I have to say they were the catalyst for the second half, our Dutch contingents. Just by their energy on the pitch it made everyone else raise their game again. And the goal was coming we had chance after chance and watching from the side lines we knew it was only a matter of time we make it 3-2 and momentum was on our side. Well football is a funny game all of a sudden the referee had given a penalty to Old Parks for a foul on Andre Vine in the box. Now I know the move the attacker used on Andre because I do it most weeks. In which he locked his arm up and fell on top of him to get the foul. Even their subs knew it was our free kick but that didn’t change the decision. And the penalty made it 3-1. Fair play from the lads they didn’t give in and doing everything possible to get back in the game with myself being like a super fan on the sidelines just encouraging the best I can. Then we got our goal with some nice interplay with a few of the boys for Jeroen to square it across goal for Cooper to score another tap in for the season. 4-2 with loads of time left. So we pushed and pushed for the 3rd goal and then the ref awarded us a penalty for a foul on Sweetner and that was sweet justice but then the unthinkable happened Rob missed the penalty and that’s all I have to say about that. Even after that we created another 3 chances that were cleared off the line and the the lads just didn’t give in. Honestly a good performance from all 6 new players on the day and a good show of character in the 2nd half from the lads. “Never doubt what can happen”