With a contact lense frozen to my eye and no feeling in my fingers from doing the nets i couldnt make notes but i was quickly warmed up by a retro display that reminded me why we love the game.
Despite Swifts undoubted player quality they prefer a quick back to front game which never really troubled us in the early stages. Chippy and Glens pace coupled with Revills speed off the line and Bowles excellent covering play meant we were pretty comfortable even when facing our own goal. We knew that Chippy would be departing at half time so it was vital to hit the interval with a clean sheet - we did that through a wonderful 45 minutes from Chippy which included hands up to his own errors whilst calmly carrying on, keeping his head and encouraging all around - that performance gave us a platform. It was equally important to nick the first goal which Ollie did as he drifted in off the flank. This made Swifts blink first and they pushed 3 up on 3. That was the signal to switch Oliie with Neil to use Ollies pace to work the space in behind which paid off later. Before that Ben, who was a constant thorn with his running and pressing, slipped a wonderful cross to Josh who finished his surging run with a thumping header for 2-0.
We kept the half time reshape to a minimum but in the first 15 minutes we were unable to really get out of our own half as they peppered us with long balls and set pieces. Just as we thought we'd weathered the storm the headed home a set piece - it had been coming. Within 5 minutes we restored our 2 goal lead when their long ball game broke down, Ollie picked up the pieces, driving forward to round the 'keeper and coolly slot home. They werent finished and replied within minutes to close the gap again. With 10 to go Ryan stepped into a telegraphed pass and drove towards the 18 yard box, instead of the glory shot he played in Ben on the edge of the 18, Ben had a lot to do but controlled and hit a sweet volley on the turn which rippled the net for 4-2. They grabbed a late heart stopper when Ollie was dispossed running crossfield and we were caught on our heels as a quick counter left Revill no chance. It would have been disappointing to see a 2 goal lead pegged back on this second meeting and our victory by the odd goal was a reasonable reflection of a good well balanced game.
Some of the match highlights here are missing including some very good efforts from Ben, Ollie and Ryan and some top saves by Revill but this game was more about the way good individual performances knitted together to produce a really good team performance.
We knew Chippy would be departing at half time so it was critial to reach the interval with a clean sheet, Chippy was the architect of that and gave us a platform to push on. Neil did a good destructive job up front and wide opening the way for Ollie to move in and do his stuff. We talked at training about working to make sure that Joshs energies were used further forward instead of on covering runs and Dazza made that happen today, his strength, tackling and discipline was the springboard for much of our forward play. Ryan added another defensive and offensive dimension on the left and that helped Bowles stay focussed on his role as the left sided centre back of three and Bowles turned in his most complete performance of the season, his positional play and covering behind was a step up. Ben's willingness to run into the holes as well as pressing defenders in possession was a big plus. Throw in very very solid performances from the rest and voila.
Next week is a return to the cup trail where losing is simply not an option.
