I said to the boys at the start of today that this match would be a measure of how far we had come this season. And for sure it proved to me we have come an awful long way. Perhaps 4 all was the right result for the fact we went behind each time and showed the character to come back. However a win would also have been a result that we fully deserved.
Make no mistake - Eltham Town are a very good team. They currently lie 3rd in the league. However today, for the most part we played them off the pitch. We bossed large parts of the game and we did that with composed passing and good closing down. We allowed Eltham Town very few chances - but like all good teams they know how to finish them. This has perhaps been the difference for us in that we can't turn enough of those chances we create (and in recent games we have created many) into goals. Yes we scored 4 goals today, but in reality we know we could have scored more and put the game well beyond them.
At the other end, whilst we defended much better than recent weeks, we did however go down to a couple of unfortunate goals. Jack in goal has been a god send this season and has really kept us in games, but like having a moan at attackers and defenders - sometimes goalies make their mistakes.
Lets not dwell on the negatives because as I said today we stepped up to the plate and showed when we have our full resources available, we can take on anyone and pretty much play them off the park!
The commitment and attitude of the boys has been fantastic and often has been the difference when the skill has not always been there. But we have and continue to work hard in training on passing, confidence on the ball, closing down (fitness) and shooting. All of these skills are starting to show on the pitch.
In what was such a team effort it might be considered wrong to pick out certain names - but there were a few for me today. Joe Sarcone who came on and played on the right for most of the game due to Tom's back injury did a great job for us. He worked hard, chased every ball and made movement and passes for others to run on to. Tom M and George made a great difference in the middle today having "clicked" and with Sam supporting them. Worth noting the difference having someone like Sam who can now get goal kicks up past the half way line.
The boys at the back again did a great job - and their strength in recent weeks has been their togetherness and good understanding to cover for each other. Jack Lofts in particular making some great tackles today.
Jack Collins (our leading goalscorer) continued to show his ability to get in front of players, to bring the ball down, to flick on and overall contribute with a great work rate is great to see.
Finally Liam was back with a bang today. We thought it might take a little time for him to settle back in, but today he was back to himself. Running everywhere to link up the play - but more importantly getting the most important goals. And the second goal was a 30 yard screamer which those who have been around a while will remind them of the good old days. Great performance and my man of the match.
But today there was one winner - Our Team.
