It was a pity that we were only able to field a bare 11 but the team we put out put on a solid performance for the seasons first outing and without the benefit of substitutes we were bound to run out of steam against a squad of 17 using roll on/roll off subs.
On the other side the players on show took full advantage to find their match legs and it gave the two newcomers, gary and steve, a good opportunity to rediscover their game.
We started brightly, Ryan Chip and Bill nice and solid at the back and Steve confidently patrolling the area between a back 3 and the midfield 4. Dan and Kim dominated the central areas, Olli and Gary provided the wide link and probing runs and up top Kyle and Sam worked their rigid back 4 hard. So far so good. Despite being dominant in possession however we rarely tested the 'keeper and it took a 15th minute trademark set piece corner delivery from Olli converted with a bullet header from Kim to break the dead lock.
Ten minutes later Steve broke out of his defensive role and struck a good low long range drive past an unsighted 'keeper. Braughing were in serious danger of folding as we stroked the ball about but we still struggled to close out our approach play and it took another Olli/Kim corner combo to deliver our third goal. Too busy congratulating ourselves on what we thought would be a romp, we immediately conceded on the counter - there was nothing lucky about their goal as their centre forward split our back line with a well timed run and shot on the turn under pressure. Gary's response in net was almost as skilful as he got his hand to the ball with a quality reaction dive but the ball still crept in.
Just before the break Dan drove into the box, past two closing defenders and finished his run with a fine low drive just inside the post.
After the turnaround we were always going to find it difficult coping with the uphill slope without being able to call upon fresh legs so it was disappointing that we were unable to properly ute the half time tactical instructions. With pace to spare up front in the shape of Kyle, Sam and over lapping Olli it should have been easy enough to drop off and allow them uncontested possession up to the centre circle. This would have kept us compact compressing the play in our half - unable to play through bodies we would only need to deal with their long ball. In possession this would have given us a platform to turn their back four with acres to run into behind. In the event we wasted energy trying to close down in singles with forward players unaware of who was playing high dragging defenders with them leaving us stretched with far too much space between midfield and the front players.
Fatigue set in and we started to lose a bit of shape and discipline. We conceded too many cheap fee kicks in dangerous areas as we lost concentration. Further out gary drifted infield leaving Bill exposed 2 on 1. Three at the back means that the flank men have to provide cover ahead of the full back as there's no inside central defender to provide cover - it takes a bit of getting used to. On the other side Olli didn't respond to ryans overlapping runs which reflects that on his usual right hand side he is nearly always the most advanced player whereas on the left Jack often sits in if Ryan goes. These parts of the game are good to see early season as it highlights that if we dont take the opportunity to rotate we become predictable as Managers, coaches and players and too rigid as a team.
On the plus side and particularly in the first period every player showed more than a few glimpses of the quality that we know ripples through the side. We didnt really need to set ourselves into full competitive mode and we played well within ourselves. There's no point mentioning every player - Gary rated a mark ahead of everyone as he did exactly what he had to and could do nothing about the goal - everybody else performed to expectation and i've got a tingle that if we work hard at our game we might have another big season ahead.
