Here is the third team report from their game on 15 November: So we had a bit of epic cup battle this weekend against a very good team that have won 9 on the bounce, so its a bit of a long report... Being right up in north London, we turned up in dribs and drabs which raised my blood pressure and didnt give us the best chance of a proper warm up, but luckily everyone made it eventually, including the two late additions of Michael Che and Aaron Dixon with the 2s game being cancelled. Thankfully the ref thought it was 1:45 KO, so thats what we went for and this gave us an additional 15 mins warm up. The pitch was pretty boggy and was just about playable so it was going to be tough. The oppo made their intentions clear right from the off playing deep diagonal balls to their pacey wingers in a 433 formation, testing our full backs from the off. However it was us that made the early breakthrough, when a lovely through ball from Palermo was met by an on rushing Ryan who after touching it into his path unleashed an early curling shot that left the keeper stranded and crashed in off the underside of the bar. A great strike and perfect start. Unfortunately that was as good as it got for the 3s in the first half as we didnt capitalise on the early goal and the oppo worked their way back in and were causing us a lot of problems down the wings. But for all their threatening play they scored through a long throw that we didnt manage to clear and it went in off the attackers back - very frustrating. The oppo continued to pull us apart, playing dangerous ball after dangerous ball over our defence with too much time and space in the middle to pick them out. Their second came from one of these moves when their rapid right winger got his cross in which was met by their striker in the middle of the goal for an easy finish. After the 2nd we made two subs bringing on Michael and Aaron for, the recovering from injury, Connor and Palermo. This however didnt change our fortunes and the oppos third goal came before half time, this time from the left. A long ball was flicked on luckily by their striker to their left winger who crossed to their unmarked striker to control and fire into the top corner. Temperatures started to get a little heated with their number 5 getting mouthy and antagonising some of our players. The captains were called over to calm things down which we did, the spirit of the game overall wasnt bad. So at half time we went in 3-1 down, but it could have been worse had it not been for some stubborn last ditch defending around the 6 yard box and key saves from Joe Crilly. The feeling was that we hadnt got going and there was potentially something in this game for us, so we went back on the pitch with positive intentions and started well, passing the ball around and having most of the possession. However for all our good work we didnt threaten enough and werent stringing numerous passes together. And the wind was removed from our sails when the ref awarded the oppo a very generous penalty indeed. A corner came in, they got a head to it and it smacked straight into Nacho less than a foot away, arms maybe slightly raised, but it hit his chest/shoulder and he had no chance to get out the way. The ref was adamant though and the striker coolly slotted the ball away sending Joe the wrong way. We still hadnt got going properly and after pushing to try and get back in the game they broke from a long ball which their pacey attacker, whod been causing us problems all game, latched onto and managed to chip the ball over the onrushing keeper. 5-1 and the game looking gone with damage limitation looking like the best option. Im not sure exactly what it was, but that fifth goal gave us freedom to play without worry, and things started clicking into gear and we started to seriously threaten. Palermo and Connor had come back on for Nacho and Ponsford and had made an impact. We got a corner after some nice passing work which Palermo curled in and found an unmarked Alex Outhwaite who, after confessing on Thursdays 3s drinks that he couldnt header, bulleted one in, and reeling away to celebrate smashed his head into Faures chest nearly knocking himself out. There was still plenty of time in the match and the momentum felt like it was swinging so we started to play with a bit of confidence and composure. One step forward two steps back however, as a freekick given away by our recent goalscorer just outside our area was fired in high towards goal and Joe was unable to tip it over the bar, restoring the four goal margin and making it 6-2. Still buoyed from our much better play we continued in the same vein and passed the ball around in the middle and spreading it out wide, causing the oppo lots of problems and starting to pull them out of position. Some nice passing work created an opening for Michael and some quick feet made space for a well placed shot into the bottom corner for 6-3. The belief in us continued to grow and in contrast you could see a bit of doubt creeping into the oppos mind. Everything was now going our way, they were giving the ball away cheaply and couldnt get it off us. Another smart passing move involving Palermo, Ryan and Salva led to Palermo receiving the ball back in front of goal and a calm finish into the bottom left corner off the post made it 6-4. There was still 15 mins remaining and now we were buzzing. Nacho and Ponsford came back on for the last 5/10 mins and we ploughed forward creating a few more chances and fighting right up until the end including 6 mins of stoppage time but we were unable to find the remaining goals needed to force extra time.
Posted on: Mon, 17 Nov 2014 18:13:05 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015