Thrapston Town Yellow 0 v FC Aztec Braves 6
For the second week running we started the match slowly. Where Aztecs were full of running and enterprise our guys seem to take time to settle into the game. A couple of times they had to be reminded that football is a game of movement.
It’s a mystery why they start like this because once they start to relax and play there is a lot of really good football played throughout the team!
Anybody watching the boys play at the end of training yesterday will have seen some of the best football we’ve played as a team. Mark and I tried to simulate a match situation and played with one goal – defenders against the midfielders / forwards. The boys were doing just what we have been asking of them these weeks. It was superb to watch.
I’m struggling not to use the ‘game of two halves’ cliché. But in truth we did not really show what we were capable of today until after half time. Unfortunately, by that stage, Aztecs had built a lead that would be difficult to overcome. However, the boys gave it a real go in the second half. Some of the football that we’d seen yesterday was on display. Defensively we fought harder – with the boys winning tackles and throwing themselves in the way of shots. The midfield and forward showing real skills – passing the ball around, great movement off the ball and getting those shots in. On another day we would have scored a number of goals. We keep playing like this and they will come.
Mark and I try to involve everybody in the match and use substitutes to keep up the energy on the pitch. During the second half the boys gave us a real problem….who do we take off. It is a great problem to have. We want the boys to give us those headaches every week.
On the way to next week’s match the key phrase should be ‘straight from the off’. The boys should believe in themselves from the start of the game. Once we learn to start quickly and play the football that we are capable of playing in the first half we will win!
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