We arrived with plenty of time in hand to allow for everyone to chat and have a weekend catch-up but when it came time to switch on too many players were unfocussed. It was clear from the very loose warm up and pre-match passing session that more than half the team were approaching the game far too casually and with an arrogance that wasn't matched by the very limited skills which were later on display. You are all grown men playing, we thought, because of your love of football and the challenges it presents each weekend. Your football motivation has to come from within - for some of you it looked as though Sunday's are becoming a social gathering with everybody's head on the after match drink with football coming a poor second. First is First in football and nobody should be enjoying going for a pint unless the game's been won.
The writing was on the wall in the 2nd minute when Bowles was flagged offside and the gap between him and Steve wasn't closed by the final whistle. In the 3rd minute we conceded a corner and unfortunately is was Bowles caught ball watching who lost the 7 and we were lucky he shot over. A minute later Glen was just as casual on the other side, despite pre-match instructions for the full backs to look for the forward pass first a second inside 1-2 was closed down and he sliced the ball into touch under invited pressure. In the 5th minute Kim surprisingly failed to commit to a straight forward 50/50 and we looked to be handing them the initiative. A minute later Sam went out on a run into their 18 yard box and ran out of room and interest when he lost the ball but Ollie continued the pressure and nicked the ball back to create his own close range opening which he netted for 1-0. This was pretty much the story of our game at the top end with Sam flitting in and out of the game and Ollie working hard across their back four but often finding himself isolated.
In the 9th minute Bowles fizzed a cross into their 18 yard box but Dazza had stalled his run and didn't make contact, a minute later Dazza was throwing his arms up in protest at a challenge and took himself out of the game, a trick he persisted with throughout the first half and a trick which Kim showed he could play just as well - very disappointing. In the 14th minute with a throw in their defensive third and those two players failing to put any pressure on the throw they worked the ball out easiliy into our 18 yard box where Glen and Chippy were forced into challeges facing our goal, despite 4 chances to clear we didnt do so and gifted them a soft equaliser.
We replied with a crisp passing move brought to an end when Dazza opted for an elaborate in the air flick - look at the size of Sam and Olli v their centre backs - why do they need to be competing to chest down a ball when it was already on the floor - three times this was repeated in the first half. That indisciplined loose football filtered through to Kyle who played a series of suicide square and straightline balls turning our good possession into last ditch defending. In the 24th Ollie did some good pressing in the corner but predictably no players were making the effort to gamble on his cross which came to nothing. A minute later Kim had a Dazza moment arguing with hands in the air with the game going on around him, with one less forward option Kyle played another loose ball and we were on the back foot conceding a freekick and at the corner which followed Bowles was again mesmerised by the ball as their 7 was gifted another free strike. In the 25th Dazza threw his hands up at his own bad pass - work that one out - and again Kyle followed suit with another suicidal blind ball. In the 28th Sam had a rare moment of inspiration stepping inside a couple of players before unleashing a 30 yarder which rattled the bar. It should have lifted us but instead the ball came straight back at Steve who underhit a pass under no pressure leaving Chippy to make (another) critical challenge.
In the 35th we finally found some rhythm with Kyle, Mark, Olli and Sam completing an 8 pass move and in the 38th Bowles Dazza and Olli linked up well but Ollis shot was just wide. We reached the interval 1-1 with a pretty mediochre performance notable mostly for Alamo defending by Chippy and Revill.
We restarted the half with Olli and Sam finally firing on all cylinders and carving open Swifts back four in the first minute - the final ball to Kim found him in acres but the attempted strike was, well, casual but anyway woeful. Bowles and Olli linked up minutes later to release Dazza who was unlucky to see his effort denied by the bar. In the 60th Steve again gifted them possession under no pressure, in the 65th Kyle showed he was also struggling to raise his game as he too conceded cheap possession and two minutes later the lethargy had spread to Mark who was closed down in possession and they quickly broke to take the lead at 2-1. Only two top drawer relex saves from Revill prevented them from extending their lead and with Mark running on empty after a hard graft first half a change was needed.
Joel, making his first appearance of the season came on for Mark but occupied the hole with Kyle being pressed higher up wide right. Two minutes later in the 68th Joel played a penetrating ball to Dazza who quickly found Kyle powering down the right - the run and finish which followed was typical Kyle and was the lift we needed, unfortunately we lost our shape and composure as we chased a third goal and we lost possession with too many players ahead oh the ball - their breakaway goal had an inevitability about it and we were looking very shakey. Steve hung a leg out as he was skinned by the Swifts player but Revill pulled out a save that didnt deserve to be seen in losing performance. That save seemed to galvanise us, Sam went on a jinky run which ended with a shot just over and a minute later in the 39th it was a free kick from Sam that took a deflection (goalbound anyway) that dragged us level. We had our tails up and a minute later it was Olli turning on the edge of the box that had us holding our breath at one end and Joel's blind pass at the other that almost undid us. With 3 minutes to go Kim and Sam combined to engineer a 1 on 1 opening for Ollie which their 'keeper saved and on the final whistle another shot from Olli was well saved.
We can play better but for now that remains just an opinion - it will only become reality if we get our feet back on the ground and do the simple things well and do them often enough to make a difference. It was frustrating to hear players in our team, often 50 yards behind the play, complaining about offside decisions which they coulndt possibly see or judge and were invariably wrong about. I was stood pretty much in line for most of the game and at most only 2 decisions were wrong. Most of the decisions arose when players were ball watching and not looking across the line or more often than not when the ball was taking far too long to be delivered. The end result of constantly wrongly disputing decisions is to sow doubts in the minds of the players who would be either making the passes or making the runs. If you want to be a referee do the badge and buy a whistle otherwise concentrate on your own game which today was not very good.
They played 4-3-3 today so at all times we should have had at least one man spare in midfield but in fact their much higher work rate from back to front saw them often over run us in midfield leaving our back line 1 on 1 far too often - we'll address this on Wednesday.
Ollie impressed with his running and closing down today; it's clear also that Chippy's game is a notch higher this season but we relied on him far too much today, MOM though was Gary Revill, he made a series of fantastic saves and couldn't do much about those that slipped past him. All in all we have look at today as a point won rather than a point lost.
