Hi All,
Overall a quite disappointing
morning - this was the first time in about two and a half months that we played
on grass and it showed - in retrospect we could of done with a training session
on grass prior to a game, but honestly the pitches were just not up to it.
As a team we seem to hate
early morning kick off's, then when you add in the cold and at times rain
today, you could really see how unhappy some of the boys were; we really need
to find a way to get over this as although I can challenge the kick off time
(in this instance it was originally set at 9:15 and I pushed back as much as I
could), I can't control the weather!
Anyway to the match; we
actually started positively - we passed the ball really well and kept our
positions tight - I had complaints from the Blacon coach that the pitch was too
small for 7v7 but I again reassured him that it was at the right dimensions (I'd
already said this to him prior to the game). We broke at one point and Oliver
Wrigley flew down his right channel and shot at goal which went in - well done
Oli, I know you love that type of goal, as do I!
We were in control if I'm
honest in that first quarter, but we made a minor mistake at one point and
Blacon jumped on it and as a result equalised, ending the quarter: Arrows: 1
- Blacon 1.
Now this is where it all went
collectively south; we stopped running as a whole when we lost the ball; our
positioning disappeared and we seemed to not want to be there - something that
for me was a real flash back to October/November on one or two occasions;
something I thought we had well and truly left behind. Clearly this is
something that I'll work on with the boys in training at the next session. In
Q2 we kept losing the ball cheaply, enabling Blacon to pounce and score
numerous goals during this period: End Q2: Arrows: 1 - Blacon 5 (by the
way, at this point the complaints about the size of the pitch mysteriously went
away...).
Q3 was pretty much a mirror
image of the previous one; we had our chances, but we continuously seemed to be
slow in responding to losing the ball; not what I've come to expect in the last
few months from the Arrows. Because of how we were playing this morning we
again succumbed to four more goals to end the quarter: Arrows 1 - Blacon 9.
Prior to the final quarter I
was very clear with the boys that its a collective responsibility in defending
and protecting our goalkeeper - we left him at times very exposed and we need
to improve this aspect of our game in the immediate few weeks. I sent them very
much with the objective to win the final quarter, using our skills and
knowledge to play well; the boys really didn't let me or us as whole down - it
became as competitive as it was in the first quarter and we really battled. The
final quarter ended nil-nil, so overall the game remained as an end result of: Arrows
1 - Blacon 9.
A few points from me - looking
back on the match as I have done today (sad I know, but would you expect
otherwise?!?) we were exceptional in training on Friday - I thought that was
the best session that I've seen to date; I am struggling to see why we couldn't
transfer that to the match this morning as we have done on previous weeks. I
can only mainly put it down to time of the KO and temperature - the team that
was selected today was a competitive one and was able to make more of an impact
than what actually happened - I'll again look at this in the coming weeks.
Some final words - it was
great to see Sam Cheetham as captain today; thank you Sam, it was an overall
solid performance from you today. It was difficult yet again in terms of the
Man of the Match award this morning, there were three really strong candidates,
but ultimately I awarded it to Henry as he has completely taken onboard the
feedback given to him over the last few weeks and especially last night and
this morning; using his height, strength and determination to drive the ball
forward; Henry did the team proud today so will be my captain next week.
I'm going to leave it there,
but I'll likely drop a note out later in the week regarding extra training
sessions.
Thanks all.
Carl
AFC Waverton U8 Arrows07896 515717
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