We were eager to play this match following our terrific start to the season but were sceptical about playing on a surface that none of us had before. It was ridiculous that a few days before the match we were told that our players had to change their footwear and were not to use steel studs! The club secretary has complained to the league and we're waiting to see the outcome.
We started the game eagerly and the match was very even with everyone playing their part well. Our game play was good for the whole match but we were beaten on a lot of occasions by the bounce and speed of the ball on the unfamiliar surface, and at times just didn't react quickly enough to get to the ball first. To be fair to Leigh, they chased every ball where we were a little sloppy at times in reacting and not always dropping back quickly enough to help out the defence. By the end of the first half, despite being behind, we were still looking strong and playing well. We were unfortunate to score an own goal, but this could have happened to anyone and the player in question should not feel that he's let anyone down. He tried hard and had a good game otherwise.
Leigh were a decent side and played some very good football and whilst we don't think they were actually any better than us, they clearly had more experience of the playing surface which showed in their game-play. I'm not going to spend time and effort detailing the goals scored by Leigh, needless to say, we know we're better than the result on Saturday and we're really looking forward to the re-match on a proper pitch!
To our players’ credit, everyone tried hard when they were on the pitch but Marc stood out to us as the clear man of the match for this game. He put in 110% effort for the whole game and played so well that we refused to substitute him - well done Marc!. We take responsibility for the bad timing of some of the substitutions we made during the game - we tried to make sure that everyone had a fair time on the pitch depending on the position they play in and unfortunately in trying to do this we changed the momentum of the game at times. We didn't agree with some of the refs decisions during the game but that's just football and we understand that the ref has to call it as he sees it.
Following the match we had a good team talk with the players and asked them a question: -
"Would you prefer to get 'some' time on the pitch or some of you be asked not to come on a rota basis to some of the games to avoid us having to try to get everyone equal time?" All players agreed that they would prefer to be at the match and to play even if only for a few minutes, than not go to the match at all. With that in mind we have agreed that we will try to make substitutions less frequent and at a time that we think will most benefit the team as a whole and not an individual. We also discussed players chirping in our ears 'when can I go back on, when am I going on etc etc. We have now made it clear that we will put players on the pitch whenever we think the time is right, but any player who mithers us to get on the pitch, will not be going back on at all for that match. It's hard enough for us to try to make what we think are the best substitutions at the time than to have to contend with players bickering in our ears as well.
Everyone has trained hard this week and we're looking forward to the cup match on Saturday. Come on Sutton, let's bounce back :)
Thanks as ever to all the parents for believing in us and their continued support.
