A fairly comfortable victory but a bit of a shock in the first half.
We started well. Smith was a constant menace and they truly had no answer to him for the whole game. We did play four at the back, four in the middle and Smith and Bradshaw upfront. The idea of the big man small man combination worked well. It was where our first decent chance came from. A good knock down from Smith to Bradshaw who hit an overhead kick which sailed over. we had lots of good attacking threat. Mahoney showed his silky skills and also his ability to hit a decent set piece from a corner or a free kick.We had two or three good chances and both Smith and Cooper got on the end of decent crosses but we just couldn’t find a way to get the net to bulge. And you just know what is going to happen next. They had not been an attacking threat for the first thirty minutes but they got one chance and found the net. A cross into the box was delivered well, their full back and captain ran towards the near post and glanced it into the far corner with Long well beaten. Their mob went nuts but it didn’t take us long to get back into it. Some good midfield movement saw the ball go out to Murray on the left. He took it from the edge of the box across field, hit it sweetly with his right foot and it found the far corner beautifully. Their mob were silenced for a while and we properly shut them up a few minutes later. A decent corner from Mahoney found Smith in the box, his header caused mayhem, bobbled around a little and Murray tucked it home from six yards. They were crestfallen but we did deserve our comeback. At the break we were 2-1 up.
GR must have been pleased with the comeback and made no changes after the interval. They knew they had it all to do and pressed forward with some intent but we were tight when they pushed forward and they never really threatened. Then we put the game to bed. A decent run down the right from Billy Mitchell saw a cross into the box. Their defence never really dealt with it, it fell to Smith who side footed it home from ten yards. It should have been game over but they tried hard to get back into it. A move down their left saw a good shot saved by Long and he saved another shortly after to keep them out. There was a class move by Mahoney down our right but it came to nothing. Fresh legs were needed so on came Bod for Smith and Saville for Ben and we just bottled it up. We were just too sharp in the tackle and their forward play was not incisive and they caused little threat. Ballard was replaced with ten to go by Alex Mitchell and we saw out the last few minutes with little drama.
Long looked good and could certainly take over from Bart seamlessly. Ballard looked class, Pearce barked out his orders and was rarely troubled and the same could be said of Cooper. Murray was MOM because he scored twice and looked cool and solid all evening. Mitchell looked good on the right, made some good forward movements, crossed the ball well and looked good enough to start on Saturday. Evans had more time, some good touches but some poor moments too. Mahoney looked good on the ball, hit some good passes but was in and out a bit. Ben was tidy but rarely threatened. Bradshaw was busy and caused some threat but was not good enough to take his chances. Smith was effective, a constant threat and took his goal well. Bod had four attempted headers and only made one. An agent watching would not have been impressed. Saville was busy, made some good forward movements and looked solid. Mitchell slipped into the game well and did not embarrass himself.
This was a banana skin waiting to happen. Our clueless manager got his patched up team to play well and they fully deserved their win. Now we are in the draw for the third round and hoping we can draw one of the big boys at the Den.
We started well. Smith was a constant menace and they truly had no answer to him for the whole game. We did play four at the back, four in the middle and Smith and Bradshaw upfront. The idea of the big man small man combination worked well. It was where our first decent chance came from. A good knock down from Smith to Bradshaw who hit an overhead kick which sailed over. we had lots of good attacking threat. Mahoney showed his silky skills and also his ability to hit a decent set piece from a corner or a free kick.We had two or three good chances and both Smith and Cooper got on the end of decent crosses but we just couldn’t find a way to get the net to bulge. And you just know what is going to happen next. They had not been an attacking threat for the first thirty minutes but they got one chance and found the net. A cross into the box was delivered well, their full back and captain ran towards the near post and glanced it into the far corner with Long well beaten. Their mob went nuts but it didn’t take us long to get back into it. Some good midfield movement saw the ball go out to Murray on the left. He took it from the edge of the box across field, hit it sweetly with his right foot and it found the far corner beautifully. Their mob were silenced for a while and we properly shut them up a few minutes later. A decent corner from Mahoney found Smith in the box, his header caused mayhem, bobbled around a little and Murray tucked it home from six yards. They were crestfallen but we did deserve our comeback. At the break we were 2-1 up.
GR must have been pleased with the comeback and made no changes after the interval. They knew they had it all to do and pressed forward with some intent but we were tight when they pushed forward and they never really threatened. Then we put the game to bed. A decent run down the right from Billy Mitchell saw a cross into the box. Their defence never really dealt with it, it fell to Smith who side footed it home from ten yards. It should have been game over but they tried hard to get back into it. A move down their left saw a good shot saved by Long and he saved another shortly after to keep them out. There was a class move by Mahoney down our right but it came to nothing. Fresh legs were needed so on came Bod for Smith and Saville for Ben and we just bottled it up. We were just too sharp in the tackle and their forward play was not incisive and they caused little threat. Ballard was replaced with ten to go by Alex Mitchell and we saw out the last few minutes with little drama.
Long looked good and could certainly take over from Bart seamlessly. Ballard looked class, Pearce barked out his orders and was rarely troubled and the same could be said of Cooper. Murray was MOM because he scored twice and looked cool and solid all evening. Mitchell looked good on the right, made some good forward movements, crossed the ball well and looked good enough to start on Saturday. Evans had more time, some good touches but some poor moments too. Mahoney looked good on the ball, hit some good passes but was in and out a bit. Ben was tidy but rarely threatened. Bradshaw was busy and caused some threat but was not good enough to take his chances. Smith was effective, a constant threat and took his goal well. Bod had four attempted headers and only made one. An agent watching would not have been impressed. Saville was busy, made some good forward movements and looked solid. Mitchell slipped into the game well and did not embarrass himself.
This was a banana skin waiting to happen. Our clueless manager got his patched up team to play well and they fully deserved their win. Now we are in the draw for the third round and hoping we can draw one of the big boys at the Den.
coyl
