It was the first game of the new season, following the winter break and spell of bad weather that saw last weeks game postponed, and with the opposition AB Juniors, it was always going to be a tough encounter.
The Tigers, for most of the game, stuck to there task and played really well, the overall scoreline not truely reflective of the possession and field play we commanded for much of the game. Defensively, AB Juniors looked weak, but unlike the 5 minute warmup where all the players were shooting high and hard at goal, we lacked confidence with our shots during the game. Things improved during the third period as we had a number of good opportunities in front of goal, but lady luck was not on our side. Evel Allenski's free kick was probably the best chance we had, a low shot aimed through a crowd of players only to hit the post and rebound out.
Max de Sarr made a good contribuion to the game today, playing the first period in goal and commanding his area well. Following the change at the interval, Max came out with energy and enthusiasm and took is chance well to level the scores at 1-1 midway thro' the 2nd period, with a well placed driven shot which left the keeper scrambling. From this point confidence seemed high, only for the Juniors to take the lead quite quickly following the restart, as our weakness in tracking back to defend left them 2 on 1, the goal always looked the most likely outcome. Similarily, the Juniors third goal followed a similar path. The Tigers were again slow to react to the breaking attack which left the defence and goal keeper at the strikers mercy.
As the game went on, we struggled with fitness, our players becoming tired and we were in the unfortunate situation where we had no substitutes this week due to holidays and absence. The Juniors 4th goal catching us on the break late in the 3rd period. This was also our first game without a recognised keeper, and the plan is to rotate the postion during the coming weeks. Max, Bry, and Sam took their turns this week and all played really well. Alex (our only recognised defender) on a number of occasions as last man stopped their attack, and what I noticed most was how he controlled his tackles, holding off and waiting for the right moment rather than jumping in too quickly. The midfield of Evel, Bry, Max, Matt, Sam and Mark all contributed well too, the only criticisms being too one dimensional in attacking down the centre of the field rather than pushing the ball wide into space which Evel and Bry had for most of the game, and not tracking back to defend quick enough when on numerous occasions the attack broke down.
A few things to work on for Tuesday in training, but to end on a positive, it was a promising start to the season and had we been up against one of the weaker teams, the outcome would have been much different. Well done Tigers!
