Both sides were ready to rock n roll but kick off was delayed for 10 minutes as the ref was late.
We started at a blistering pace, in just the first minute Josh n Olli worked an opening for Glen but he fluffed his left foot effort. In the 7th minute Bill released Neil clear into the box but the chance went begging altho' a goal resulted from the corner which followed - Mark being credited with the goal as he nutted the defenders head onto the ball which flew into the net. Mark got a head wound as a result but that was patched up with boot tape and he carried on.
In the 18th Josh played Neil in but he passed on the left foot chance and the opportunity was missed. Glen suffered a heavy knock and was replaced by Sam in the 20th minute. In the 23rd minute we found some real tempo and 8 quick passes lead to a whipped cross into the 6 yard box but nobody gambled. By this stage we'd incurred 5 free kicks for pushing - one every 4 minutes! In the 30th Olli, captain in Kims absence, suffered a yellow for a silly tackle from behind as he chased a lost cause.
It took until the 40th minute for us to really focus and find any fluency and we were rewarded with a fantastic goal as Josh finished off a slick Josh/Olli/Sam inter-change. They responded immediately and Revil was called on to make a fantastic close range reflex save of a fiercly hit drive. At the other end Olli put in a fantastic 30 seconds of committed cross field pressing, won the ball and Darryls round the cornr flick released Josh who clinically netted from close range for 3-0, the assist has gone to Olli for his tremendous energy in pressing the ball. We almost made it 4-0 when Josh released Olli for a 1 on 1 but the 'keeper saved and we went into the break 3-0 up.
At the restart we were again quick into action and within a minute Mark, Sam and Josh combined but Josh's lob came down too late to find the net. Josh released Darryl 1 on 1 but the 'keeper again saved and within minutes Neil and Josh combined to free Olli 1 on 1 but remarkably the 'keeper again came out on top 3 times in 3 minutes. An over the top ball (their biggest weapon!) caught Kyle napping but Ryan made a fantastic recovery tackle and then snuffed out the danger. From the resulting corner Mark was penalised for pushing (the third time!) and they got one back from the penalty. Our response was swift, Neil and Josh combined to release Olli who made no mistake to restore our 3 goal cushion at 4-1. The second period was noticable for Neil and Josh physically dominating the right hand side of the pitch and linking well. Around the 60th minute Mark made way for George and we reshuffled with Sam moving up top and Ryan playing wide left in front of George.
The game settled down for 10 minutes but a needless flick at the 'keeper from Olli earned a final warning, minutes later swearing at the lino earned him a stupid second yellow and his marching orders. Within a minute of the sending off Darryl earned a penalty which he took himself and skied when we had a chance to kill the game off. Another sign of on pitch indiscipline when in the absence of Kim and Olli, Sam is the dead ball taker. They clawed another goal back as we failed to deal with another hopeful punt. In the last 20 minutes we had plenty of chances but failed to truely kill the game off. Aside from our disappointing failure to take only 1 in 4 of our clear chances (never mind half chances) it was irritating that down to 10 men with a 3 goal cushion players were chasing the game as if we needed to score, vacating midfield and giving them too much room to play in. We know we've got the craft and pace to break as a unit so we have to do better at understanding when a game is won, shutting up shop, frustrating the opposition and doing them on the break. By staying compact we have more of the ball, preserve energy and reduce injury risk.
In only the first game we've incurred 5 disciplinary points - 25 puts us on a conduct warning so thats not a good start. On the positive side this was only our first game of the campaign and we look powerful on and off the ball. Its early days but we played some nice football in patches, we created good openings and we worked as a team unit all across the pitch. Everyone can feel satisfied plus Mark did really well in his first competitive game, Neil found his feet in the second period, Dan put in a very solid shift and Revill continues to impress and improve.
The challenge next week is for our football to do more of the talking.
