An efficient display today lads and a welcome win after a string of disappointing results.
I thought we started the game very well and almost immediately looked neat and tidy in possession. We communicated well, were committed and looked like the most likely team to score although Pyrford might consider themselves unlucky not to be awarded with a penalty with roughly ten minutes gone. A rather hopeful ball was pumped up to the Pyrford strikers which should have been dealt with by Jon but instead, the ball found its way through to Luke in goal and it appeared as if Luke might have caught the onrushing Pyrford striker. The referee deemed that it wasn’t a penalty to the relief of everyone in a sky blue jersey!!
This was about as good as it got for Pyrford and it wasn’t too long before we took the lead. A good effort from Ivan was only parried up into the air by the Pyrford keeper and Nick was on hand to nod in his first goal for the Harriers. A true poachers goal! 0-1.
0-1 quickly became 0-2 as we caught Pyrford on the cold almost instantly after they got the game restarted. Good closing down from Danny saw him collect the ball and run past defenders, cut inside and cleverly left the ball for the onrushing Eddy who finished well past the Pyrford keeper to extend our lead. 0-2.
I cant quite recall how the third goal panned out but I do know that Eddy managed to bag his second and our third!! 0-3 HT.
We spoke at half time about not forcing passes and we did that but I think we did that in a rather casual manner. We played within ourselves instead of taking the game to Pyrford which was maybe understandable considering Pyrford offered very little in an attacking sense.
We then stretched our lead even further, this time through Raymond. Raymond gathered the ball from just outside the area, set himself and launched a well place goal into the top-middle of the goal!! 0-4!!!
We then got a tad sloppy. A ball wasn’t cleared properly by Jon and fell straight to a purple shirt. I then got square on and managed to foul the same player. The resulting free kick should have probably been dealt with better by Luke as he could only parry, and several purple shirts managed to bundle the ball into the back of the net. A frustrating goal to concede and our clean sheet out the window. 1-4.
Any remote hope of a comeback from Pyrford was then dashed by another goal from Nick. Good play again led to Nick being played in behind the Pyrford back line, and Nick made no mistake by finishing well past the keeper. 1-5.
We then conceded yet another sloppy goal. A ball across the face of the defense should have been cut out by substitute Harry but instead the ball ran under his foot and fell to a Pyrford player who made no mistake by drilling the ball into the far corner of the net with Luke, no chance. 2-5.
We then put Pyrford out of their misery with a 6th and final goal. A whipped free kick from Eddy took a wicked deflection off a purple shirt and looped over the keeper into the net. I have to give the goal to Eddy as it was on target and I could hardly deny him his hat trick goal!!! 2-6 FT.
I thought we did well today and my only gripe would be our gung ho attitude. We need to remember that we need to defend as well as attack and need to do this as a team. A few times, Jon & myself found ourselves outnumbered and that we due to the midfield not tracking runs, and our fullbacks finding themselves a touch out of position. We did however look comfortable from the moment we went ahead and never looked like losing so overall, I’m very happy.
N C A this weekend and a chance to correct our poor league form. Let’s have a good end to the season and finish as high as possible in the league!!
COYH!!!!
