TS UNITS 2 v 1 Wall Heath
The UNITS took on in-form Wall Heath in a battle between 7th v 8th in the Prem on a cold, wet & windy Sunday morning at Wolverley
Sounding like a broken record week in, week out, we seemed again to have a host of players missing for a variety of reasons. This week we lost Jamo Winnie & Ashton on the Saturday, Clarkey on the Sunday and we found ourselves already without keeper Mozza resulting in Mala making his first start of the season this coupled with Gilo & Lewis playing with injuries we were a little stretched as we lined up from the off Mala, Luke, Gilo, Tonka, Taylor, Baker, Ryan, Lewis, Coco, Azza, Trigger Subs were Rob, Leon, Chinner & Si
Wall Heath are bang in form, not lost a game this year and fresh off the back of a great win v Haden so we knew a tough mornings work awaited us As expected they lined up 4-3-3 and Cuzer had picked a 4-2-3-1 shape to try and nulify this and give us the best opportunity to hurt them when we had the ball First 10 and the game was even, Wall Heath as expected full of confidence were shading things in terms of possession but clear chances were at a premium Azza shot over from 25 yards from a quick UNITS break and Lewis had a shot blocked when well placed as we started OK
Wall Heath's best two chances in the opening 15 minutes were from long kicks from their keeper and DJ playing on the shoulder of Tayl's & Tonka found a bit of space, one shot going wide form the edge of the area and the other comfortably held by Mala
15 gone and the visitors had shaded proceedings without threatening much yet the UNITS then had their own purple patch for 10 minutes and took the lead We started to pass the ball well, often from back to front with Mala rolling the ball out to the centre halves with Baker & Ryan playing through midfield and the attacking four finding space as we pushed Wall Heath back Our goal was a wonderfully crafted move, Tonka, Tayl's and Coco all involved before Trigger did well to hold up the ball and play a lovely reverse ball to Azza who cut inside the defender and side footed the ball low from 25 yards past the keeper into the bottom corner to give the UNITS a valuable 1-0 lead
Despite the goal it was still the UNITS creating the chances and on the front foot, Coco did well to beat his man, cut inside and see a shot well saved, then Azza was denied by a fine block as we kept pushing
30 gone and we were on top but against the run of play at the time the visitors leveled up. We cleared a Wall Heath free kick but their defender beat Trigger to the ball, then Azza lost out in the middle of the park, with a quick ball to their wide player Gilo found himself out of position and from a drilled low cross the opposite wide player stole in front of Luke at the back stick to tap home from 3 yards to level things up
After the goal the game became more even with Wall Heath regaining their confidence, Mala saved comfortably from a long range effort and then again 25 yards out their midfielder struck the ball well but a yard or so over the bar as Wall Heath pushed us back, we were defending well though and carried a threat on the break and both sides were probably happy with their first half performance in difficult conditions as the sides came in level
HT UNITS 1 v 1 Wall Heath
The message from Si, Darbs & Cuzer was a bit more belief on the ball, with the wind behind us use it to our advantage and push on for the winner
Credit to the visitors they started the 2nd half well, having the lions share of early possession but chances never came as the returning Taylor alongside Tonka were superb and Luke & Gilo keeping their big and awkward wide players quiet
The first keeper to make a save of note in the 2nd half was the visiting keeper when on 55 minutes from a wide position Azza whipped in a vicious free kick which the keeper did well to parry away low down at his near post and Wall Heath scrambled the loose ball away before the UNITS could poke home
We continued to pass the ball well at times and you felt chances would come, Tonka went close from a corner as we kept pressing as Wall Heath started to run out of ideas
They made 2 quick changes on the hour mark as they chased a winner but it was the UNITS again next to go close when from a UNITS attack the visiting keeper could only clear as far as Azza 35 yards out who beat his man and with the keeper recovering shot right footed but the keeper dropped on the shot which was lacking the pace to make the most of the opportunity
Wall Heath then forced a couple of corners from blocked crosses but the UNITS dealt with the threat well
Coco then got away and crossed into the box with Trigger close to getting on the ball, the ball coming to the edge of the box for Luke to fizz a shot wide from 20 yards before Ryan tried his luck from 25 yards which the keeper parried away and was hacked behind for a corner
The visitors now 442 had their share of the ball but the most encouraging thing for the UNITS was Mala had not had a shot to save in the 2nd half as our solid back four dealt with the balls forward enabling us to attack when we were in possession
75 minutes on the clock and the UNITS got the all important goal We forced a couple of quick corners and Azza's delivery was causing issues on this occasion he whipped in a great ball which Tonka headed goalwards only for the ball to be cleared off the line, Tonka again poked towards goal this time a blatant hand ball on the line forced the ball away with the UNITS appealing Ryan picked up the loose ball 6 yards out and slammed the ball into the net to spark wild celebrations as our hard work and endeavor had edged us back in front
Shortly after Luke had a recurrence of his ankle injury and was replaced by The Strap.
Wall Heath now chucked the centre half up top and basically went 4-2-4 and front to back as quick as possible yet the UNITS some 3 minutes after the goal really should have wrapped the game up, we broke away and had men over as Azza released Baker who was clean through in the box, with Trigger screaming for the square pass Baker went for glory but could only shoot over the upright and a chance to wrap things up went begging
It was to be Bakers last involvement as Leon and Rob replaced Baker & Trigger for the last 6 minutes
The UNITS comfortably saw out the remaining time, dealing with one Wall Heath corner but Mala not having a shot of note to save in the second half was testament to a great UNITS defensive performance and coupled with the ability to break with pace gave us a superb 3 points against a good Wall Heath team who were bang in form
Man of the match was a tough one but went to Paul Taylor who came in from the cold and stepped into centre half and was superb alongside Tonka who kept the lively Wall Heath front three quiet
Mala 8 Luke 8 Gilo 9 Taylor 9* Tonka 9 Baker 8 Ryan 9 Coco 8 Azza 9 Lewis 8 Trigger 8
Subs Chinner 7 Leon 7 Rob 7
