Sunday comes once a week - bollocks. Sunshine, cut grass, bacon rolls and tea for the management and the most exotic team in Hertfordshire - love it mate.
With most of the team getting there an hour early Nathan paid the price for catching extra z's and forced a reshuffle before the start. Never mind, 10 minutes in Kims flick reached Neil who netted at the second attempt, retiring with a back injury 5 minutes later - unlucky Neil, lucky Nathan. Another 2 reshuffles followed before we settled with Kim partnering Kyle up top and Joel and Darryl combining in centre mid.
On the 20th minute Olli was upended by the last defender - a pen but no card! Kim should have stepped up but instead Kyle crashed the spot kick against the post (dont fuck about Kim takes ALL the pens). two minutes later Kyle made amends after Darryl forced a mistake and Kyle drove the loose ball home. A couple of minutes later a double 1-2 between Ryan and Darryl released Ryan to make it 3-0. Darryl was in a purple patch and in the 35th min released Kim 1 on 1 with the 'keeper but Kim dragged his shot wide under no pressure (a "time" call might have helped). Moments later Olli was again upended in the box going past the last man, again a pen but no card! After a long delay while the ref ticked of their player Kim coolly slotted home only for the ref to demand a retake owing to Darryls encroachment. Kim kept his nerve to clinically convert, 4-0 at half time.
Two minutes after the restart Darryl forced a mistake between the fullback and the 'keeper, robbed the 'keeper and tapped home - nothing lucky about that goal just a proper reward for intelligent hard work. Moments later Darryl missed from a free header - once again a "time" shout would have helped. Ten minutes in a nervous 'keeper scooped his clearance to Olli outside the box, Olli's instant reply was a long range lob - quality and 6-0.
We then went through a period where we did everything wrong. Chasing a big score every ball played out of central midfield was an attempted "killer ball" totally ignoring width and possession - we have to work openings not force them. As a result the ball was coming back much too quickly by passing the middle and catching Chippy and even Gary 1 on 1. To add to it too many players were making only token effort to recover shape once the ball was lost, instead ball watching hoping for a breakdown in play to create a quick counter.Think about it - its kids stuff.
With 20 to go Joel made way for Glen and his fresh legs and pace opened the game up in the last quarter. An early full bloodied 50/50 saw their defender limp out of the game but left Glen with enough in his tank to make two telling contributions. with 15 minutes to go Glens clipped lay off found Kyle 15 yards out and his wicked volley rippled the net - we love them goals. In the closing minutes Glens run ended with a simple lay off to Darryl who took his time to slot home from close range.
We weren't quite as compact as last week but we had great movement and technique all across the park. Apart from a 15/20 minute period in the second half we were technically excellent on and off the ball. No one player can play at the top of his game for the full 90 and one sign of a good team is that players raise their own performance to compensate for players around them (maybe struggling with a knock or fatigue) - every player did that today working hard for each other. There were some big performances today but Chris just edged it.
Malolm Allison died this week - his most famous piece of coaching advice was given to Bobby Moore. He told him to learn to play for 90 minutes always knowing the player he would pass to when he gets the ball. You can only do this if you play with your head up and see more than just the ball. Football.
