I said a few weeks back that the Coleshill cup game was the longest game that I could remember being involved in.  I think this one beats that and we never had extra time and pens to contend with this time.  A combination of Injuries, ambulances, getting  nets up, taking nets down, putting nets back up on a new pitch and so on an so on made this game one that we are not likely to forget.

 

A strong wind was blowing in one direction so there would be a clear advantage in either half.  We were against it to start with but we still managed to start quite brightly with some very nice passing as we took the wind out of the equation by keeping the ball on the deck.  Robbo and Will started brightest and Brett was putting himself about.

 

CCC's played to their strengths by getting the ball over the top for the huge and pacey forward to chase.  Luckily for us he was wayward in front of goal and Mark and Kev were holding him up wherever possible.

 

CCC’s were getting on top but never looked particularly threatening.  We began to panic a little which was disappointing but still we held out.  We then conceded two goals that are really disappointing.  We have defended set pieces so well this season after last season where we conceded a lot from them.  Today we went back to old bad habits of not marking anybody, losing runners and not keeping 1 line together. 

 

The 1^st was an inswinging free kick to the far post and to the lads credit he fired a cracking volley past James.

 

The next may have been lucky on their part but it was shocking from ours.  A throw was knocked straight back to the thrower and his cross was blown into the top corner by the wind.  We had spare men available on this throw and we should have put a man in front to prevent it going back to the thrower.

 

Then for some reason the game turned a bit nasty.  The 1^st two bad tackles of the game were by CCC's.  One on Will and one on Ross, both of which were waist height.  Our lads retaliated and the next 15 minutes were a handful for the referee to cope with.  A few lads were booked.

 

Brett then got his injury which resulted in a 10 minute stoppage whilst we got him off the pitch on and on his way to hospital in his Dad’s car.  Brett later found out that he has knee ligament damage and that he will be out for a good 3 months at least, so our best wishes go out to him and hopefully he will come back stronger.  Half time came. 0-2.

 

We started the 2^nd half really brightly and quickly had them pinned back.  It looked like we would have a great chance of turning this one around.  Ross had come into his own and was dominating proceedings. His curler was inches away from the top corner.

 

10 minutes into the half their lad fell awkwardly and broke his collar bone.  This resulted in a delay of around 30 mins whilst we waited for paramedics to move the player.  This seemed to take an age so we moved the nets over to another pitch and finally got back under way.

 

Again we played some great stuff.  Ross was at the heart of it all but we had chances left right and centre.  Ben’s square ball just evaded the 3 lads sliding in.  Ross had 2 more curlers inches wide and Dylan was one on one and shot inches over the bar.  Graham and Matt had shots from distance but our poor finishing was costing us.

 

Eventually we scored, Matt’s free kick was brilliantly headed home by Ross.  1-2.

 

We continued to press but time ran out and we would go away with nothing.  I was very impressed with our football in the 2^nd half but our finishing has cost us dearly.

 

 

 

 

Foster       O’Neill         Williams(M)    Ryan

Subs - Hill, Halloran, Palmer, Mcloughlin, Stokes