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IMPROVED PERFORMANCE AFTER A DODGY START

IMPROVED PERFORMANCE AFTER A DODGY START

Cliff Emberlin23 Feb 2017 - 13:41
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A much changed line-up produced an improvement but after a distinctly worrying first 5 minutes………….

After last weeks ‘disaster’ it looked like being a case of déjà-vu after finding ourselves 2-0 down after just 5 minutes, and Keiron must have been wondering why he agreed to return between the posts for his first appearance of the season.

The disappointing start could probably be put down to the back four getting to know each other having never lined up together before. Both goals were worryingly easy as first, their winger got too easily round the back to set up the first from close range and then a free header from a corner suggested nobody new who was marking who.

Keiron had no chance with either but then proceeded to produce a confident and assured display which culminated in a double save from the penalty spot at the start of the second half.

After such a poor start and with last week still fresh in our minds, to the teams credit they rallied well for the remainder of the opening period we aquitted ourselves pretty well against title chasing Willingdon. But we were up against the best defence in the league and opportunities to reduce the deficit were limited.

A third goal just before half-time made our task all the more difficult despite the consensus among the crowd at half time enjoying the spring sunshine was that there was still room for optimism.

That was nearly proved a false hope soon after the restart. A rather unexpected penalty award, which came almost as much as a surprise to our opposition as ourselves, gave them the opportunity to seal the points.

However, Keiron made a fine block followed by a great reaction to the follow up to save the day.

Much of the second half was fairly even and if anything we held the upper hand. But the aforementioned mean defence were in no mood to allow us a way back. By now our back four had settled well, the midfield quartet were seeing plenty of the ball and the front two were asking plenty of questions.

You always hope your subs will make an impact when introduced and Matt did that by inadvertently making it 4-0 late on which gave the scoreline a rather harsh look.

However on this showing, if the nucleus of the squad remain available over the rest of the season, there is still no reason to believe that enough points cannot be won to make our league position look far healthier. 27 points from the last 9 games will be most welcome.

Man of the Match goes to Tom Ryan for a fully committed display in midfield closely followed by Keiron on his return to the team.

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