Villa were late turning up and the 10 who kicked off 15 minutes late probably wished they hadn't bothered.
With Ollie, Chippie and Joe all out injured and with Kim on holiday it was a new look Association that turned up at 10.00 chomping at the bit. Frustrations grew as Villa delayed kick off. Well done to their 10 who did turn up and tried to make a game of it but even with a full strength side they might have struggled to live with our power, passing and pace and they never threatened to turn in the sort of "man short" performance that saw us over-turn a 3-0 deficit against Littlebury.
In the first half a couple of their players, notably the Jarrett Brothers, worked hard to create openings but Chris, Bill and Ryan were never seriously tested and Gary was sharp off his line snuffing out the occassional breakthrough threat. Joel was pushed forward to stretch their back four and the goals flowed at regular intervals, none spectacular but all the end product of good team play.
Before the interval there were signs of indiscipline as Harry picked up a yellow - pointless in a game which was really a stroll. At half time the message was clear and simple - play a higher tempo, SIMPLE passing game and become more clinical in front of goal. George came on for Dan, Ryan was pushed higher up the pitch and Jack shuffled inside next to Harry. The pace and quality of our approach play was excellent but we were far too casual in and around the box and when our play broke down we were hit on the counter - it was irritating to concede a clean sheet in this game.
In the second half Villa fell apart and we added a further 7 goals as they failed to make any meaningful contribution to the game as a contest. We let this lack of competition disturb our rhythm. Our failure to fully exert clinical, iron discipline in front of goal further unsettled the team. Overplaying and failure to convert clear cut chances had a ripple effect and provided the perfect "wind up" backdrop that led to Ryan's retalliation and Red Card. There is absolutely no excusing Ryan's sending off but the whole side would do well to reflect on the fact that we now lose Ryan for a 35 day automatic ban and he will personally miss a huge chunk of our most important games. As a squad we now have to ensure we get to enough finals so that every player gets a chance to do his stuff on a bigger stage
It seems strange to be "unsatisfied" with a 12-1 victory (good sides are never satisfied) and there were no individually poor performances, in fact every player played very well. There's no point naming everyone but Chris and Bill were solid, Lee had a strong game and Kyle and Sam combined and finished well up front but we're left with a question mark over our discipline and a nagging doubt that perhaps it should have been 20-0 ( even down to 10 men we stretched our lead further). Still, we're into the next round and can get back to the more serious business of The County Cup next week when (thankfully) the opposition will give us a real test.
We're the side that everybody wants to beat, we are, The Association - and we love it.
