A very sunny and warm morning and a packed Robert Mays School this morning, with football on the 11 aside and the astro. Full squad of 12 this morning, so a few sub rotations required. This was a game of two halves. First half there was plenty of endeavour but little quality by Phantoms. We were quite one dimensional in our attacks. A good attack down the right side allowed HJ to score after predicting where the ball was going to drop. During the half, we did our best to give the ball away to the Hawks in dangerous areas of the pitch. Eventually, one of these errors led to a shot by the Hawks player that trickled into the goal. 1-1 and now a different game... Half time talk from the coach was something along the lines of 'er what was that first half all about?' Second half was a much stronger showing, ball went out to wide areas with a bit of snap and we looked to attack from wide positions. Possession stats were higher, but always aware that Hawks could counter. Second goal was scored after a great ball in from JC and soon after, some clever play from RD on the left side to get down the byeline, which after a couple of failed attempts was smashed home by HJ. JR, OK and EH were really strong and working very well as a defensive unit. EH combined with HJ, whilst JR was dealing with any high balls. JF came on and seemed to enjoy his battle with the combative Hawks right midfielder. RE showed awareness and was vocal when the ball came in to the box. GW playing against his old team got better as the game went on and started to drive with the ball. EHE was unlucky not to score when through on goal, somehow the keeper managed to save a rocket of a shot from EHE. ON was played upfront in the first half, looking to use his pace to get in behind the Hawks. TH had a more influencial second half, helping to set the tempo of our passing, moving the ball quickly. It was a good performance in the end and the boys responded so well after the blip of the equaliser. There is some real quality in our play and I'm very proud of some of their football. However, we still lack cutting edge in and around the box and had far too many offsides today. Players are not always looking along the line and bending their run. It is also combined with delays to passes causing the player to go offside. We can work on this, because some of our training has been without the offside, so it is probably not instilled in them yet for this season. HW were a really nice team, players, spectators and coaches. They had some good players, with ambition to play a passing game. I hope they hold their own year once they've adjusted to the pace of the game (as we had to last year).
