As a spectator for a large portion of the game I can safely say that the Tudor Sports I saw were not playing to their best, or at their very least were not putting away the chances that came our way, whether from balls fizzed in the box by a frustrated Robbie Linstead or Billy Jolley or some of the deep crosses from Sammy Maloney at left back or from the scarce pieces of football down the middle.
Although in all honesty the opposition grew in confidence when we let them, they were substandard in my opinion. We were not terrible to begin with, we actually had a good portion of possession in the opening 20 minutes, however as mentioned as we did not capitalise on the chances we faded out of the game, down to poor decision making on the ball, poor choice of runs to show for the ball, and far too often running away from the ball to force long balls to our lone striker.
We were punished for our lazy attitude and because we lacked bravery, decisiveness and control of the situation in the defensive area that mattered, the ball fell to the opposition around 28 yards out and Fizz endeavoured to shut him down only to force a flukey rushed shot that found itself looping in to the the back of the Tudor net to give the opposition the lead.
In spite of it not being the glittering football that we were used to, we were still pressing with no less than 6 corners which were sumptiously delivered by our 1st team left back to no avail with the appearance that we were trying our best to clear the ball for Crockenhill.
Half-time
With half time bringing an immediate substitution of Reece Hay for Sam Cormack, bringing on the returned striker after his drugs ban to lead the line up front with Jolley moving out wide.
Things slowly improved when Paul Votier came on for Robbie Linstead for another reshuffle with Jordan moving out wide too, this allowed Fizz to protect the back line with Joe and Paul ahead of him. This suited Joe Townsend when he found himself on the receiving end of a ball scrambled out of the box on to his left foot which he duly dispatched with a swing of his left foot bending the ball round the crowd and keeper for the top corner, bringing us on a needed if not so much deserved equaliser.
Minutes later Joe was substituted for Elliott and with that came a slightly slower and composed approach from the back, with some good runs from deep threatening the tentative stage of the game at 1-1.
An excellent team move beginning with Sam Maloney, finding Elliott, Fizz, Paul then reaching Jolley out wide only for him to flick the ball over the left backs head and burst down the right with plenty of space to run into with Elliott busting a gut from deep and running the 100 yards to latch onto Jolleys delicious cross through the corridor of uncertainty and bundle in the excellent team move.
After this Tudor were fully on top and we played some lovely stuff in the right areas and turned the screw, and after some minor handbags in the middle with Fizz and Sam bullying the opposition gaffer the whistle blew for Tudor and I make that 6 points from two games.
