A bitterly disppaointing day for all concerned as the trip to berkshire resulted in the end of our berks and bucks cup run following a 2-0 defeat. Sometimes you know its going to be one of those days from the moment a mix up in travel plans meant we meet the injured piercey and coker in the lay-by at bisham roundabout, bumpstead who was leading the convoy until this point pulled in behind piercey, unfortunatley summers didnt follow suit and proceeded to lead the rest of the 8 car convoy straight passed, issue solved quickly as piercey soon managed to catch up with rest of team and we arrived at the ground in good time, infact such good time the oppostion had not yet arrived. The squad prepared themselves for the game, when it came to light as we left the changing rooms that Ryan had forgotten the practice footballs, having spoke to the opposition they kindly offered us there spare football which was only half inflated.
The game began in bitter conditions, a gale blew accross the pitch making conditions hard for both players and the brave souls who travelled to support the team. Bracknell won the all inportant coin toss and decided to play with there backs to the wind, giving them what turned out to be a huge first half advantage. The first half can be summed up by saying that 80% of the game was played in our half, with the swirling wind making it almost in possible to clear our lines, the defence was over worked but on the whole did really well to ensure we only went in at the break 1-0 down, and this coming from a header from all off 20 yards which was wind assisted and flew into the top corner leaving summers with no chance. It was one of the most one sided halves of football we have suffered, with one half chance falling to davies early on, which ultimately came to nothing. Half time 0-1.
Second half and with the wind that had served the opposition so well seemingly dying down over half time, we began the second half looking for a positive reaction to our first half display, although it soon became apparent that our opponents were mastering the tricky playing condidtions well and were nulifying our attacking threat whislt controlling the midfield. There were very few chances on the whole for either side and the second half saw large periods of play in the midfield areas, neither keeper being called into action. Gunnell and piercey on the touchline had a discussion and changes were made replacing the Ebberson and wingfield who had endured tough days by their own high standards with Green and wilkinson, and a change in shape which saw us employee a 4-4-2 as we chased and equaliser. It must be said wilkinson enjoyed a decent cameo and a couple of balls forward looked to cause the opposition some trouble, in truth it was the first time in the game they had looked under any pressure. With 8 minutes to go and the need to press forward holyport caught us on the break and when O'connor who had bust a gut to get back made a challenge, the winger collapsed to the floor and the ref awarded a pentalty. It looked theoractrical from where the management where standing and was later confirmed by the oppositon that it was infact a dive, disspaointing to hear as they had enough to win the game without cheating. The penalty was cooly converted and with that went our chances of a come back. Captain gunnell went up front for the last 5 minutes but it was in vain as we didnt produce anything of real quality for the strikers to feed off. Full time 0-2
A rare bad day at the office, the oppsoition who age wise resembled dads army certainly know how to play football and used the ball to much greater affect than we did, in all honesty it was a bit of a lesson against a side who wouldnt look out of place in the Wycombe combination premier division. The absecnses of Piercey, shaun coker, searing, hall & roberts didnt help, in particular the pace of Searing and creativity of Piercey could of made a big difference today. On the whole the defence and keeper deserve credit for dealing with some appaling conditions particuully in the first half, i felt as a unit going forward we could have done much better collectivly and individually.
Man of the match - Matt carpenter, good shift a left back, defended well particully in the first half as several attacks came from the right hand side of holyports attack.
Match ratings
Chris Summers - 7 - On the whole dealt well with everything, not an easy day to be a keeper. A couple of poor kicks first half but cannot be faulted. Do not like the shorts and socks he wears in goal, mucks up the symatery of the kit, please invest in some new gear.
Phil Wingfield - 6.5 - Battled hard, never easy and seemed to have a lot of high swirling crosses to deal with.
Mark Bumpstead - 7 - Solid in awful conditions, made one or two outstanding defensive headers.
Matt Gunnell - 7 - Again solid in awful conditions.
Matt Carpenter - 7 - STAR MAN - never gave up, put in a good shift defensivly, shame the nature of the game meant he couldnt get forward more often.
Jason Douglas - 6 - Quiet game from a top performer, never easy as team as whole struggled to get to grips with holyports control of the game
Pete Ebberson - 6 - Battled away for 65 mins, never gives up but the lack of football for a number for a month didnt help his cause.
Mike O'Connor - 6.5 - Little chance to reproduce the form he shwoed against Trix, worked hard for the team but as with other midfielders was fighting a losing battle.
Rich Davies - 6 - Quiet game, struggled to get involved during the first half, as always keep giving it his all, and many better days will follow.
Javi Rodriguez - 6 - As above, many better days will come, a tough day for our left sided player.
Ryan Coker - 6 - Lack of service was an issue, did work hard, obvious for all too see could do with a goal or two. Hopefully not far round the corner and floodgates will open.
Subs
Sam Green - 6 - difficult for a defender to come on when we are chasing a game, did all that was asked off him.
Tom Wilkinson - 7 - Lively cameo from the bench, couple of decent balls late in the game, a shame we couldnt capitalise.
We go again next week, hazlmere sports will provide a different challenge, but on paper one we should be more than capable of dealing with. 12 massive league games to play and everything to play for.
