Match Report

We were not able to hang to our 3-3 scoreline that had been set up in what we thought was the last minute. There was still another minute remaining for the opposition to score a fourth and winning goal. How cruel a game this can be.

We had given a good account of ourselves throughout the game, playing some good passing football and basically creating opportunities and being a threat to their defence. This was also backed up with some decent defensive duties. So how did we lose? Lack of concentration, not finishing and moments of poor communication.

We had a bright start; Wray shot on goal and went wide when he should have squared to Bridges (lack of communication and poor finish). Wray missed another chance but snatched at it (poor finish). Scramble in their goalmouth and we don’t get on the end of it (poor finish).

A harmless punt forward by them, Carter heads back to Milner in goal but Milner had already rushed off his line, missed the ball etc, they scored 1-0 down (communication and concentration). Wray through on goal (again) scores 1-1, decent finish this time on stroke of half time. We’ve only got get to the break, great 1-1 at half time. Oh no, they launch the ball forward down our right, and the forward was in acres but still had to run 25-30 yards and tucked it away, 2-1 down at half time (communication and concentration).

We miss further chances in 2nd half, Carter having two headers, one cleared off the line, and Murphy hitting over the bar as did Keyworth. They scored a decent looking 3rd goal, 3-1 down.

Keyworth escaped down the left, cut in and finished with his usual excellence. During much of the match we’ve been on top, still playing some good stuff, admittedly Milner had to make two really good saves in the 2nd half. Enter Tom Page, on as sub, loops a loose ball over their keeper’s head from just inside the box, yes 3-3. The rest you know. The 4th was (concentration and communication) a scramble in our box, loose ball being finished by them. It must have been seconds to go. We will learn, most definitely, we will not let this happen again.

Our football is getting better and we have to be more efficient in our finishing, however we cannot expect to be able to let in 4 goals every game and stand a chance of winning. Finishing and defending to work on, you cannot be good at one without the other and expect to win matches, that’s why it’s called a team game. The overall picture still looks good to me, we have a decent squad with competition for places, we know there is more to come and this team will improve. We need to stick at it and cut out the silly mistakes, we’ll get there soon.