As the title suggests, The Revs unbeaten start to the campaign came to an abrupt end. Faced with a young, somewhat cocky bunch of lads in Five Rise, the worst thing The Revs could do was take a first minute lead. Well that and not actually bringing your football boots on a wet, slippy surface Dave Pinkstone! Was like Bambi on ice… so that is actually the worst thing you can do!
However, from a team point of view, it was the worst thing Revs could do as it just led to the opposition upping their game and The Revs thinking this would be an easier game than anticipated.
From kick off it was rolled back to P. Pinkstone, who passed out wide to Beardall in acres of space, who slipped Steane in at the near post and he finished with his left. One nil!
But from the re-start their good lad (read very good!) weaved in and out as everyone backed off and he put it right in the corner to equalise within seconds.
Again from the restart Beardall found himself in space once again and even when closed down he managed to take the lad on and come away with the ball. Unfortunately, for the first half anyway, that was as good as it got.
Slow play, no urgency, woeful passing, no running off the ball, weak tackles and backing off players meant the opposition had the time of their lives totting up a further 3 goals to add to their equaliser.
This was not The Revs way. Normally the team digs in and gets in the opposition faces, but nothing came off, even in hard hitting tackles they came away with the ball. They used all their arsenal of flips, tricks and step overs and overwhelmed the blues all over the pitch.
Even Myers had a rare off night after saving one shot and then just staring at the ball as it rested on the ground, motionless, whilst the attacker nipped in and flicked it into the corner.
Let’s not take it away from the opposition, they were good. They had 2 or 3 outstanding players who could play with both feet, go in any direction and shoot with great accuracy and all of them seemed quick off the mark! However, The Revs were not at the races and fully deserved to lose this game. It was a question of by how many in the end though.
To be fair, The Revs dug in a little more in the second half and the opposition tried to score wonder goals, which meant the damage of the first half was enough for victory.
Late on a bit of pride was restored when Steane put Hartrick in on goal who neatly passed it into the bottom corner, but the opposition still got the last word in making it 6-2 on the night. The Revs needed to test their keeper more, but it’s easy to say when you don’t see much of the ball.
Looking on the bright side, this was always going to be a hard game, but The Revs will learn from it next time they face Five Rise. And it serves as a reality check that as a team we cannot take any game lightly and have to be at it full on each week.
However, if you had said to me The Revs will have 7 points from the first 4 fixtures I wouldn’t have believed you!
Onwards and upwards, dust yourselves down and we go again next week!
