With a surprising no show from senior players it was left to a bare 11, half carrying injuries, niggles and fitness concerns, to face a full strength Old Town desperate to reverse our big 6-1 win just 36 hours before.
We were half asleep when a ball tossed between Darryl and Gary caught them both in two minds with Gary conceding a penalty which they converted for 1-0 in only the 3rd minute. We worked hard to respond, at the end of a sweeping move Olli dragged his shot wide, Sam went through only to be flagged and Jack worked an opening for Glen who made his angle too tight and the 'keeper saved. Old Town were shading possession as all over the pitch we were making fatigue induced errors - getting caught under high balls, playing blind one touch, turning into crowded areas etc, all in all failing to keep it simple. When we did find some rhythym it was good to watch Sam and Ryan rampage down the left in the 30th minute - Ryan's cross was destined for Glen's head until the defender finished the job for him, OG and 1-1. Instead of settling we rushed after the restart, conceded possession and a long ball lofted over Ryan left their striker to easily slip around Bowles before finishing with a neat lob over Revil who'd strayed off his line.
That handed the initiative back to Old Town who had the better of the 15 minutes before the break. In the 44th they broke 1 on 1 and Revil came out on top with an excellent stop only to undo his good work at the corner to gift them a simple header for 3-1. We concede a 4th as the half time whistle came when we failed to properly clear our lines and the ball fluked/rebounded past Revil.
It was heads down as we came off for the break (please -let's not look defeated before the final whistle). Most teams would fold at this point but we reshuffled and set about our business again.In the 56th Bowles strong work in the central area released Olli who's edge of the box dribble set up Darryl to slot home for 4-2. Olli, Darryl and Ryan all had on target efforts until in the 40th minute Neil went on a trademark long rhino run to earn a corner. Olli obliged with his best delivery in the two games and Darryl rose to convert with a thunderous header. From the restart they again broke one on one with Gary who saved with his feet (straight from last weeks training ground). We battered the ball about their box in the closing minutes but couldnt force the equaliser.
Credit to Old Town, they deserved this one and had the better possession but i suspect it's The Association which took a little bit more from the game. We found out a little bit more about our character and our ability to dig in - if the game had had something on it i suspect we would have found a little extra something despite fatigue and injuries. If possible we agreed to try to find a slot for a best of three "decider"
The bad points about our play today and most individual errors can be largely put down to rustiness and physical and mental fatigue playing 2 full games in 36 hours and are nothing that cant be addressed at training The plus points were huge and will help us in the coming season.
