For two months we have been working on the basis that the game against Villa Court would tell us how far we have come. No doubt that Dav, Nathan and Joe have made an instant impact to our team. Not just because of their individual qualities, but because of the way they plug the gaps of what we were missing and therefore making our team play overall much better.
We haven’t had a league game for some time, and whilst friendlies have given us a chance to look at the team, the winter weather has also stopped us from getting the crunch games finished.
Well today was all about setting that right. With just 12 players, we took on a Villa Court team who were top of the league (and soon to win it) and had not lost a game all season. We have worked for weeks to get it right for this game. We knew we had to disrupt their play, as they are very quick moving the ball from back to front. But one thing we have become much better at is working and moving around the pitch as a team. We close down quickly and move our own ball quickly.
We had to weather the storm today a bit as Villa Court had some sustained periods of pressure. But I cannot speak highly enough of the defence who have really gelled together this season. With Connor O'Shea absent, we had to shuffle things around with Jack Lofts supporting Ollie to do a great job in the centre, with Dav and James keeping their wits about them on the wings and playing an equally important role. Sam Austen did a great job of not only buzzing around to break up the play, but also to use his strength of pass and vision to open up play quickly from back to front.
Through the middle of the park we had Jack Collins and George in the middle. It is often easy to forget about these two in the middle, but I never underestimate the work rate they have to put in - especially today to not only try and break down play, but also play balls wide to the wingers and over the top to our front men. Joe and Will had their spells on the left wing. I asked them to do a steady job - not about taking on players today, but instead to again hustle and bustle and cause a nuisance and they did that really well.
I told the players before we started that we would win by playing as a team, not individual but pressing, and playing simple. Villa Court are on you so quickly that this was not a game for doodling with the ball at our feet. I could fault the character we showed. All over the park we closed the game, we played the right ball at the right time. We ensured their error rate was much higher than ours and this only comes with hard work and disrupting play – sounds simple, but it requires a lot of hard work. However by the second half it paid off as we controlled the game.
So whilst pressing and winning the ball back is about team play - scoring the goals is often about the individual having the skill to finish the chances they have. I knew we wouldn’t have many chances today, but I cannot speak highly enough of Nathan and Liam today. They were tenacious from the front and wing - the relationship is really starting to blossom and the goals scored today were right up there.
And finally back to our own goal - Joe our new goaly has completed the great set of new players. We saw today that he doesn’t lack confidence - and got a bloodied lip to show. But with Joe we have someone who looks incredibly comfortable in goal. In fact more so - our team look comfortable having Joe in goal.
I often say that the true man of the match is the team. It was today - a herculean effort, but without the skill of one particular individual it may have been a little different today - so Nathan just pips it for me taking (I believe) 3 out of 4 chances for well deserved hatrick.
Great job all around.
