Saturday 11th September 2010 (0 -1 WIN vs Marlborough United)

Players ratings as follows:

James 7
Graham 7, Colin 7, Rides 7, Lee 8
Keiran 7, Darren 7, Sumat 7
Hedley 7, Luke 7, Dan 7

Subs: Lloyd 7, Craig 7, Shaun 7

MOM: Lee Randell

Champagne Moment: Graham Milne - trying to hold the ball up in the corner to waste time but showed a total lack of skill and just kicked the ball out!!

Report:

Travelling to Marlborough I was hoping for a far less eventful game after the trauma’s of last week. Thankfully this proved to be the case.

It is always difficult to go to Marlborough and play quality football given the slope on the pitch and the normal windy conditions. I therefore knew, despite Marlborough’s league position, we were in for a tough game.

And so it transpired. Marlborough definitely know how to play their pitch and use the conditions to their favour and it was clear we would have to match them with effort and endeavour to get a result.  This we did.

Before the kick off I could see with the warm up we were focused on the game and I was therefore quietly confident.

During the whole of the game we were pretty much in control. We played all the football and I felt it was only a matter of time before we would score. However through a mixture of poor finishing and good goalkeeping this was not to be and as the game wore on Marlborough became more resolute and difficult to break down.

It felt like it was going to be one of those days where, despite having all of the possession and pressure, we were never going to break them down. Fortunately our persistence paid off and we were rewarded with a well worked goal 15 minutes from time.

It started with a good move down the left with Colin producing a quality ball for Lloyd who beat the defender, ran to the byline and produced a low cross for Craig who had attacked the space and scored with a neat finish. This was just reward for his patience in not being in the starting line up so far this season and proved to me what he can do and why he is an integral part of our squad.

So a well deserved victory, despite not playing our best, which has kept our unbeaten start to the season.

Finally a special mention must go to the back four who took a bit of criticism from me last week. They defended far better with Lee Randell the pick of the bunch, again proving what a quality defender he is. I now look forward to seeing him a bit more often at training.....

Also to James who helped us out this week by playing in goal. I know he was disappointed, especially after scoring two goals last week, but he got on with it and kept goal with a calm assurance. Hopefully things on the goalie front will be sorted out soon!!  

Anyway yes we will play better this season but a hard earned victory nonetheless and we move on to another long trip next week, away to Ilsington

RESERVES (2 - 7 LOSS vs South Brent 2nd Team)

The day started well, the sun was shining, the birds were singing and we'd just heard that relegation candidates Everton had scored two late goals against Man U, so the team were in boyant mood.  Then things started to go wrong...............

South Brent started much quicker out of the blocks than us and looked fitter and sharper in the opening exchanges.  Sav looked lively up front but often found himself picking up the ball on the wings.  South Brent took the lead but we quickly equalised with a deflected goal that Sav is greedily claiming.  The dubious goals panel will assess this and the outcome will be announced at a later date.

Throughout the whole game we defended poorly as a team and it is true to say that the South Brent left back was one of their biggest threats going forward.  They scored another couple in the first half but we were still in the game with a strong appeal for a penalty turned down by the aging ref who was struggling to keep up with play and Sav creating a chance for himself out of nothing and then putting the header wide on the stroke of half time.

Second Half, we started brightly and Laney was industrious in midfield. Then we scored a second to get us back in the game,  Adam put a lovely ball through to Rainey who out muscled the left back before showing Usain Bolt like pace to beat the keeper to the ball and then went down like a sack of spuds to win a penalty.  Adam (who has controversially been chosen to take penalties) slotted the spot kick away and it was game on.

As Lee Dixon said on Match of the Day last night you shouldn't concede goals from the opposition's goal kicks, but we did, not once, not twice but three times in the space of 15 minutes and the game was over as a contest.  Knowing the game was over, we brought on the old timer, Graham Jones who's short passing game was something we've been missing in recent weeks and we started to play a bit better.  They scored a seventh and we were relieved to hear the final whistle.

Overall a disappointing day, we were outplayed by a good team who generally won all of their individual battles and we let in some very sloppy goals.  Hopefully, now we have our full squad back after several weddings and holidays we will start to climb the table and get the team spirit back that we had last season.

This match report has been sponsored by Mark Rainey Mortgages Ltd, for all your mortgage and insurance needs.

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