An entertaining game of two very different halves which ended all square.
They started the better and moved the ball well. We took time to get going and some of our play was disjointed with some misplaced passes and some complacency. By contrast they played neat football with short passes and got around us surprisingly easily. They looked a threat down the left and there was barely ten minutes gone when they took the lead. The ball came from the left and their midfielder had pushed forward, found himself in space and nodded it past Long from ten yards. There was nothing he could do. They were buoyed by their good fortune and pressed forward urged on by a noisy away end who thought it must be Christmas. We tried to get back into the game. Bryan was tackling as hard as anybody and intercepted a pass out of the back but he couldn’t get his pass right and the move fizzled out. They continued to play a neat short passing game which eventually paid dividends. A slick passing move down the right found their attacker in space and he squared the ball into the middle and their man tapped it into an empty net with Long again standing no chance. The crowd were anxious and we did put a decent move together which ended with a shot from Rab which their keeper pushed over. There was little to commend our attacking play whereas they looked comfortable on the ball and played around us. Many of us in block 29 were desperate to hear the half time whistle so GR could get us back on track in the second half.
We speculated about who to take off and who to put on and Vogi was the number one player to be removed. We were all wrong as he took off Wallace and put on Evans which did not seem the smartest change.. At least we had more urgency in our play and pushed them back so they were less of a threat. After 15 GR made some decisive subs. Off went Bryan, Flem, Leonard Casper and Vogi and on came Tom, Billy,Nino,Esse and Harding. This certainly asked more questions of them and it took just ten minutes to get one back. A decent ball to Rab put him in the clear and he just rolled his shot wide of their defender and their keeper and it was 1-2. They wobbled a bit and we turned the screw a little by taking off Hutch and Rab and putting on Alex and Emakhu. We continued to press and with little over five to go Emakhu got the equaliser. A decent run out of defence from Billy sent Emakhu clear on the left and he raced clear to hit a firm shot past their keeper. The crowd went nuts and they were merciless in their banter with shouts of 2-0 and you mucked it up or words to that effect. They almost conceded a third near the death with their keeper only making half a stop and managing to retrieve his error. And so it ended 2-2.
Long had little to do, made a decent stop from an error by Nino but could do little about the two he conceded. Leonard looked decent at RWB and Hutch Cooper and Murray looked OK. Bryan was aggressive and had plenty of urgency in his play. Sav was soIid but Casper had his moments but misplaced a couple of passes. Flem had his moments and Rab had little service but Vogi ran around threatening a little but achieving not much. Evans introduction at the break was baffling but he did hit a couple of decent passes. Billy looked all energy and urgency, Harding and Esse had their moments but Nino hit two very long poor corners and gave the ball away in a dangerous position. Alex Mitchell looked solid and strong but Emakhu had pace to burn and took his goal well.
There will be much for GR to ponder about this performance and he will need to get us to be fast off the starting blocks on Saturday or we may be out of the game before it has hardly started.
They started the better and moved the ball well. We took time to get going and some of our play was disjointed with some misplaced passes and some complacency. By contrast they played neat football with short passes and got around us surprisingly easily. They looked a threat down the left and there was barely ten minutes gone when they took the lead. The ball came from the left and their midfielder had pushed forward, found himself in space and nodded it past Long from ten yards. There was nothing he could do. They were buoyed by their good fortune and pressed forward urged on by a noisy away end who thought it must be Christmas. We tried to get back into the game. Bryan was tackling as hard as anybody and intercepted a pass out of the back but he couldn’t get his pass right and the move fizzled out. They continued to play a neat short passing game which eventually paid dividends. A slick passing move down the right found their attacker in space and he squared the ball into the middle and their man tapped it into an empty net with Long again standing no chance. The crowd were anxious and we did put a decent move together which ended with a shot from Rab which their keeper pushed over. There was little to commend our attacking play whereas they looked comfortable on the ball and played around us. Many of us in block 29 were desperate to hear the half time whistle so GR could get us back on track in the second half.
We speculated about who to take off and who to put on and Vogi was the number one player to be removed. We were all wrong as he took off Wallace and put on Evans which did not seem the smartest change.. At least we had more urgency in our play and pushed them back so they were less of a threat. After 15 GR made some decisive subs. Off went Bryan, Flem, Leonard Casper and Vogi and on came Tom, Billy,Nino,Esse and Harding. This certainly asked more questions of them and it took just ten minutes to get one back. A decent ball to Rab put him in the clear and he just rolled his shot wide of their defender and their keeper and it was 1-2. They wobbled a bit and we turned the screw a little by taking off Hutch and Rab and putting on Alex and Emakhu. We continued to press and with little over five to go Emakhu got the equaliser. A decent run out of defence from Billy sent Emakhu clear on the left and he raced clear to hit a firm shot past their keeper. The crowd went nuts and they were merciless in their banter with shouts of 2-0 and you mucked it up or words to that effect. They almost conceded a third near the death with their keeper only making half a stop and managing to retrieve his error. And so it ended 2-2.
Long had little to do, made a decent stop from an error by Nino but could do little about the two he conceded. Leonard looked decent at RWB and Hutch Cooper and Murray looked OK. Bryan was aggressive and had plenty of urgency in his play. Sav was soIid but Casper had his moments but misplaced a couple of passes. Flem had his moments and Rab had little service but Vogi ran around threatening a little but achieving not much. Evans introduction at the break was baffling but he did hit a couple of decent passes. Billy looked all energy and urgency, Harding and Esse had their moments but Nino hit two very long poor corners and gave the ball away in a dangerous position. Alex Mitchell looked solid and strong but Emakhu had pace to burn and took his goal well.
There will be much for GR to ponder about this performance and he will need to get us to be fast off the starting blocks on Saturday or we may be out of the game before it has hardly started.
