The same beautiful sunny morning as last Sunday but would we have the same result? Rocklands travelled to Fakenham for a County Cup game against a team from Division A. Rocklands met them in a pre-season friendly where it was all square at 4-4. Hopes were up and again after last week’s result thoughts of a cup run, maybe?
Rob and Steve went with a 4-4-2 formation with Marcus on a free role just behind Ewan up front. Fakenham in yellow and black started from right to left with the sun behind them. In the absent of Kevin who last week under adverse circumstances ran the line beautifully, Dan aka Gary Lineker ran the line with authority. Was it the flag or is the real Dan coming to the surface?
But back to the game Rocklands started well continuing on from last week, subs being Marc, Callum and Ryan. Fakenham however had other ideas and pressured Rocklands early. Rocklands were playing the left side well with Joe T back. Fakenham continued with the earlier pressure and the result was a shot on goal which Matty got his hands to but Fakenham were there following up and put the ball into the back of the net 6 mins in.
1-0 Fakenham. Fakenham’s passing to the man was slicker and quicker.
The goal had the result of Rocklands formation being squeezed as Fakenham turned up the heat leaving Ewan up front. We were playing in our own half finding Fakenham capitalising on Rocklands just missing that touch or slightly off pass. 12 ½ mins in Fakenham received a loose ball and took it well off the chest onto the foot in the net.
2-0 Fakenham. But the Rockland lads were occasionally attacking and trying to play the ball forward and wide and when they did it was Fakenham who made the mistakes. The lads were not giving up!
Rocklands were just missing the final touch/pass accurately to the feet, Fakenham however going forward were again quicker and accurate to the player. 33 ½ mins Rocklands failed to clear resulting in another goal.
3-0 Fakenham. The whistle went for half time which left Rob and Steve to rally the troops. We were just lacking the final touch together with the formation being squeezed, the pressure was building.
Rob and Steve brought on Marc, Callum and Ryan for Louis, Sam and Luke with Eliot moving to right back, Marc up front and Ryan in midfield. Fakenham began where they left off. Charlie and Joe S soaking up the pressure and making some great tackles to deny further goals for Fakenham. 12 mins into the second half Louis came on for Marcus to play in midfield. Rocklands at times were waiting for the ball to come to them but when they had the ball they played some nice football and played from their own half out wide or down the middle forward putting Fakenham under pressure where at times they made mistakes. These chances and openings gave Rocklands a glimmer of hope that they could possibly exploit. But Fakenham countered in the 24th min.
4-0 Fakenham. The game continued in similar vein with Fakenham scoring in the 34th min. Matty making some good saves and punching the ball clear.
5-0 Fakenham. Despite Joe G desperate goal line clearance.
Louis was playing well in midfield putting some tough tackles in and breaking up play along with Joe G who covered some miles in midfield with some good hard tackles and offloads wide or forward.
As the man in black in the middle blew the whistle to end the match Rocklands were left to reflect on Fakenham who were the slicker at passing and quicker to the ball but with that taken into account at times Rocklands realised that there was a chance at times to exploit the openings and upset the momentum of the game which if the lads carry on thinking in that way and just make that pass slick and accurate they are capable indeed very capable of shifting the momentum of a game in their favour.
In today’s sport we are quick to bring out positives in every manner but we must realise our negatives and build to counter or lessen these. Rocklands lads are playing good football and are building to counter the negatives improving on doing the simple parts of the game well which in turn leads to a decrease in mistakes. Possibly a blessing in disguise so we can concentrate on the league and promotion only time will tell.
M.O.T.M was between three Joe G for putting the miles and a shift in, Louis for his 2nd half performance and Charlie for soaking up pressure. Lawro and I went for Charlie in the absence of Gary Lineker, Gaby and Alan Green.
