A blustery wind and a lack luster performance was the order of the day today. Things looked bright for us straight from the kick off as Andrew burst into the oppositions half and gave a crunching tackle after only 8 seconds! This should have been the cue for the rest of the team to get stuck in and unsettle Byron Red Star, but it wasnt to be. This turned out to be a game in which we never got into our stride, never moved into 2nd gear and never looked comfortable. We were bright in patches during the first half with Connor going through on goal, rounding the goalkeeper but the angle wasnt in his favour and the chance went begging. Connor had another couple of chances to get on the score sheet during the half but unfortunately his shooting boots were not working this week. Lewis did his usual trick of hitting the frame of the goal!! If only they made goals a few inches bigger? It took until the 14th minute before Byron managed a shot at our goal. Tyler was again on top form this week and kept their striker at bay with a fine save. Number 15 was their danger man and looked a level above the rest of the team, he was also very fast. This caused a lot of uncertainty in our defence leading to quite a few mis-kicks or not judging the bounce of the ball. He took advantage of this a couple of times but was thwarted by the impressive Tyler. It was a very tight game, with Byron closing us down and getting to most of the loose balls making us look a little lazy. H/T 0:0 The half time team talk usually gets us some results but sadly it was not to be for some time today. With a change of formation to 4-4-2 we were hoping to force the opposition to change their set up and force them into making mistakes. Andrew was still charging around the pitch trying to motivate and get his team mates to do the same, which seemed to spark some life into them. Lewis (now up front with Jack) managed to get a shot off from the edge of the box, only to slip over in the process and end up laying in the mud cursing! We finally started to put in some tackles around the pitch, with an excellent tackle from Ryan which led to him putting Jack in who tucked the ball into the net to break the deadlock 1-0. Job done (or at least that is what some of the players thought) and let Byron back into the game. The rest of the half proceeded to be a very scrappy affair with Byron hitting us on the break and taking advantage of our mis-kicking and misjudging the bounce of the ball. This led to the their striker (15) going through at least three times only to be denied by the in form Tyler. With just 2 minutes to go Connor delivered a corner into the wind with the ball holding up long enough for Jack to catch it sweet on the volley and smash it into the net 2-0. Enough was enough FULL TIME! A win and a clean sheet giving us 3 points, so their were some positives to take from the game. Well done Tyler. Quotes:- Darren "Thank God for the final whistle" Tamsin " They are playing crap" Brian "It's just not coming together"
