As Jimmy Greaves once said football is a funny old game and today proved this was right.
After last weeks excellent 6-1 victory over Westbourne FC things took a turn for the worse in their second pre-season match against Mermaid FC from division 4.
With no less than 6 players missing from the match Stronstad were left with the bare 11 for this match and as the temperature heated up so did the temperature heat up amongst the Stronstad players.
First Half Action: -
Stronstad started the bright of the two teams and really should have been two goals to the good within the first 10 minutes of this match.
First the ball was missed by the Mermaid FC central defender and this gave Robert Pearson the chance to move forward and despite the Mermaid FC defender coming back he missed the ball and this gave Robert Pearson a chance but his right footed shot beat the Mermaid FC keeper but hit the post and across the goal and out for a goal kick.
The second was after a long ball saw Robert Pearson again advance forward but he rushed his shot and blasted wide when maybe a fitter Robert Pearson would have taken these chances.
At the other end Stronstad were being put under pressure from the long ball and it was from a long ball into the Stronstad box that resulted in the opening goal.
The goal came about after a corner for Stronstad was cleared and a quick counter attack from Mermaid FC saw the ball played into the Stronstad and despite Ian Privett’s best efforts the ball rebounded to the Mermaid FC player who finished from close range to make the score 1-0.
Things were going wrong all over the park for Stronstad as the simple pass was being replaced with the long ball and this was causing in loss of possession and Mermaid FC took full advantage as the ball was played over the top of the Stronstad defence and this left the Mermaid FC player one-on-one with Ian Privett to make the score 2-0.
Things were going from bad to worse for Robert Pearson as he had two more chances to pull goals back for Stronstad but his wayward shooting summed the match up for him.
Stronstad thought they had a goal back as a quick long throw from Robert Pearson found Mark Betteridge and his header beat the keeper and Gareth Spicer who came around the back of Mark Betteridge slotted into the empty net but the linesman gave offside.
Stronstad had a big claim for a penalty turned down as Gary Cowell turned his man in the box that brought him down and Mermaid FC cleared the danger to the anger of Gary Cowell and Gareth Spicer
Half Time: - Mermaid FC 2 Stronstad Utd 0
Stronstad went out looking to battle back into this match but were causing their own down fall as yet more wayward passes and not tracking back gift Mermaid FC more chances to extend the lead which they did with 2 quick fire goals.
To me Stronstad did not learn from the first half where Mermaid FC used the long ball over the top of the Stronstad defence and this would be their downfall as once again left Ian Privett exposed at the back as the Mermaid FC player slotted into the empty net.
Then it was 4-0 as a kick out from Ian Privett only found the Mermaid FC player on the halfway line and with a big gap in the centre of defence left the Mermaid FC free to blast the ball high into the Stronstad net and yet more questions were being asked about the back four.
Stronstad to their credit never gave up and did manage to get a goal back through Mark Betteridge as a break through the centre of the park was blocked by the Mermaid FC player but the ball fell to Robert Pearson who fed Mark Betteridge who skilfully went around the keeper and slotted the ball into the empty net to make the score 4-1.
Stronstad then started to put the pressure on Mermaid FC and maybe should have done better with the chances they had as first the miss-firing Robert Pearson saw his angled drive saved then Pearson again heading wide after some great work from Mark Betteridge.
Stronstad did get a second goal as long throw caught the Mermaid FC defence out and Gareth Spicer turned and hooked his shot into the net from 25 yards to make the score 4-2.
To round off how bad a game Robert Pearson was having the ball was played into the 6 yard box and a Pearson got to the ball it came back off the post before the Mermaid FC keeper dived on the ball to sum up the game and saw Stronstad lose again lower league opposition.
Full Time: - Mermaid FC 4 Stronstad Utd 0
