Sticking to game plan showed how Witham players are learning

““We are growing as a team and you can see that."” mark ashford

WITHAM Town boss Mark Ashford was pleased with how his players stuck to the game plan he had set out for them as they secured a memorable finish to 2018 at Maldon & Tiptree
Witham capped a profitable December with a fourth Bostik League division north win and clean sheet from their five games in the month.

Sam Ashford’s 44th minute goal proved the winner, but it took a disciplined and resilient team performance to shut-out a Jammers side sitting second in the table.

And the Witham boss was glad to see his players being brave in possession after feeling that they hadn’t been at their best in the previous game (a 1-1 draw) against Coggeshall Town.He said: “I thought this game was more like the one against Canvey, where we defended really well, but our use of the ball was good.

“I said after the Coggeshall game that I felt we didn’t believe in ourselves to keep the ball and we were hacking it clear.

“That made it scrappy, but, at Maldon, we kept the ball and tried to play.

“Some of our passing and movement when we regained possession from breaking up Maldon’s play and the use of the ball was very good and I felt our front three were a real threat on the counter-attack all game.“We had a game plan and the players executed a lot of those things, which is really pleasing as a coach.

“When they are doing the little bits and pieces – the things that people may not notice - that makes all the difference.

“For example, Jack Cawley, the Maldon captain, had scored with a wonderful free-kick in their previous game against Heybridge.

“I’d been at that game and saw that, so every time he got on the ball from that situation against us, we made sure we had all our tallest players in the wall.

“Three times he hit the wall and that may seem the simplest thing, but the fact that the players took that from training and got it right in the game is very pleasing.

“They did it to the point that Maldon took Jack off free-kicks because he wasn’t getting any joy by the end and that’s the learning curve that these young players are on.“The little things can be so influential and they’re learning that.

“We are growing as a team and you can see that."
By Simon Spurgeon

Updated 07:20 - 30 Aug 2019 by swifty