It was still dark when an excited Gary and John (who couldnt sleep) met up at The Paddocks to discusss tactics for what, on paper, looked like a tough game to restart our campaign after an exceptionally long break. We decided to go 3-5-2 with Kyle handed the job of occupying two centre backs leaving Sam free to break high left with Olli given the job of raiding down the right.
We settled early into a high tempo passing game and within 10 minutes Olli followed the script delivering a pinpoint cross inside their right back which Sam brought under instant control and slotted home from close range. 5 minutes later Olli delivered a similar ball, this time Sam had a bit more to do but his 15 yard drive flew into the net.
At the other end they were predictable following the same outballs, either a diagonal behind Ryan with doubled up attackers or a shortball from the keeper and a hoisted ball over the top of Joel. Ryan and Joel had outstanding games at fullback with Jack and Olli both providing cover. Jack and Olli again worked both ends of the pitch well and were each rewarded with a goal, Jack when he latched onto Sam's cross, struck a drive too hot for the keeper and pounced on the rebound himself; Olli when he went on one of his trademark mazey runs and despite a clumsy attempt to bring him down he slotted straight past the 'keeper.
Very little leaked past the "Mitchell Brothers" Dan and Harry who were the midfield heartbeat of a very good team performance. When they did get beyond Dan and Harry in the central area Chippy was a perfect sweeper in front of Chris who within 5 minutes of the start had shaken off the rust from his long lay-off. Gary had another commanding game between the sticks tipping over a long range lob and dealing confidently with all goal attempts.
We made no changes at half time but struggled to pick up our earlier tempo and it was disappointing when we conceded a soft goal from a direct free kick after failing to attack the ball. Sam restored our four goal advantage when he intercepted a crossfield ball and nutmegged the 'keeper.That was a signal for Kyle, who had worked hard all game, to make way for Lee with Sam switching central. Within 10 minutes the change led to an opening for Harry to step out of midfield and hit a sweet long range strike past a stranded 'keeper. That rounded off a good performance as Harry made way for Bill for the last 20/25 minutes.We went 3-4-3 during this last quarter of the game anticipating that the game would become stretched and we could add to our tally. Bill and Lee both did well, looked fresh and added energy at the front and back but otherwise the change in shape didnt really work with most players around them having already workerd hard and looking heavy legged and unable to capitalise on the extra space. In the closing stages we put one classic move together with 8 passes brought to a close with Joels lay off for Chippy to put us in seventh heaven.
A very solid team performance with no weak links but we will need to be even more focussed for next weeks County Cup game.
