I said to the boys at the start of today that we must continue to reduce our goals conceded, press them high up the pitch and above all else show them that we are a much better team than the one that drew 5 5 at the start of the season. And they didn’t let us down. It would be remise of me not to mention Liam, who having not had a game for his other team Cray Valley decided he wanted to come and help his “true love”. But it was about a team effort today. We beat them all over the pitch in the first half and in fact 2 1 at half time was not representative on the possession and chances we had. We do need to learn to be more confident of shooting in and around the box – having said that their keeper made two or three great saves. We once again conceded from a corner which we all know is our biggest issue at the moment and we will continue to work on at training. The blame does not lay with the keeper on this occasion as it is vital for the defenders to clear those balls. And I have to say in the second half we were much better at meeting the ball.
Second half we opened the game up a little more and looked in control throughout. Again perhaps we could have scored a few more. Daniel scoring his first goal for Russellers was a bonus (though some work is needed on his goal celebration).
We need to continue to work on our fitness, as with stronger teams we are still to slow closing down the opponents. However we are starting to cut out the silly goals which is very encouraging and my congratulations to the midfield and defenders as a whole. Added to this we have our great new goalie Jack, who is making a great difference with his courage and conviction between the posts. Easy to forget that Jack is only 14.
Finally last season we couldn’t score goals for love nor money, this season it has been very different. We have players all over the pitch who can score. Great goal from Liam in the first half, but I save my final highlight for that of Jack Collins. He, more than most has been frustrated at not getting as many goals as he would like. But today he showed true strikers instinct. A fantastic and brave diving header for his first goal, and the second one of skill- a touch, turn, shot – GOAL!
I could have written great things about every player this evening, but I would be here all day. So much nice to write a winning report!
Man of the Match: Jack Collins.
