Old Whitgiftian AFC

Old Whitgiftian Reserves 3 - 1 Glyn Old Boys V

(Saturday, 22 September 2007)

MATCH REPORT
by Nixie

At this stage of the season, most Clubs are struggling for numbers as players are stil coming back from holiday, the wedding season etc. This Club though is different in that for the third week running the Reserves were turning good players down and we could quite easily have taken 18 again. As it was we had a full squad with which to open our campaign for Division 7 South East supremacy.

We started with home advantage against Glyn Old Boys V. As this was the first game, we knew next to nothing about them and the problem with this league in particular is that form from previous seasons isn't reliable enough as opposition teams tend to be completely different from one ear to the next. The only fascinating thing we saw about Glyn's record is that for the last 4 seasons they had finished 5th in their division and had a pretty consistent goals for and against as well.

We all arrived nice and early for this one and got changed. This made picking the team very easy and I was able to put the teamsheet up as the players changed. It was a cracking day at Fortress Whitgiftian and my only complaint was that the ground was maybe a little too hard for good football as the ball was short to bounce around and there was a danger of a few injuries.

There was a quite a bit of change to the previous week's line-up in both player and positions. Only 5 players (Tim Hillier, Joe Burns, Chris Stafford-Hill, Richard Sturdy and Robin Tegg) retained their starting line-up status, while Kenyon dropped back to his preferred right back role. Mark Bowen made his first start of the season in the centre of defence and Christian Denison continued where he'd finished last week at left back.

Alongside Captain Chris Stafford we welcomed Dave Tryhorn back into the side and who's passing and reading of the game would add strength and depth to the team. The only worry would be over his fitness and lack of match practice. Notoriously bad trainer is ol' Dragback. Dean Moss completed the midfield formation, taking up his position on the right.

Richard Ferguson was given his chance up front in the absence of Vien Phan, where his fitness and pace were hopefully going too much for the opposition to handle.

The team talk centred around our very good start to the previous week's game only this time to make it last the entire 90 minutes. Robin Tegg took the players through a good pre-match warm-up and we were set to go.

1st HALF LINE-UP
HILLIER KENYON - BURNS - BOWEN - DENISON C MOSS - STAFFORD-HILL (Capt) - TRYHORN - STURDY TEGG - FERGUSON R

Below I have listed the game's key moments, occasionally with a little bit of extra information where I have felt t necessary.

Time-Line
14.25 - Kick off
04 Mins - Bowen tackle from behind wins Glyn free-kick on edge of box. Their number 12 blazes six inches over bar
06 mins - Moss wins ball on right, takes it down line and crosses along ground to Tryhorn, who feeds ball to Sturdy. Sturdy takes forward and sends ball low over from left. Ball beaten away as far as Tryhorn, who lifts his shot over crossbar.
08 mins - Bowen pulls up after chasing player back. He is unable to continue and is replaced by Tarlton.
09 mins - All of team appears to be over on left side of field. Ball finds its way to Sturdy who beats right back before sending another low cross, which the keeper traps under his legs as Ferguson R closes in.
11 mins - Corner in from left by Sturdy. Comes to Tegg who is in 2 minds about what to do and is tackled.
12 mins - Corner in from left by Sturdy and again comes to Tegg whose header is away from goal.
24 mins - Ball headed out of defence by Tarlton and reaches Tegg. He passes ball back to Tryhorn who hits a lovely ball across-field to Sturdy. He beats defender and cutting inside the box he hits his shot over the crossbar.
26 mins - Glyn hit the ball long out of the back which lands near our left hand corner flag and is collected by their forward. Tarlton is over to cover and puts the ball out. The throw is allowed to bounce and Kenyon makes a saving tackle as forward tees-up for his shot.
28 mins - Corner - lovely ball from Sturdy, this time from right - 2 players go for same ball and put each other off. Ball bounces to safety.
30 mins - Tryhorn collects ball in midfield and beats his marker. Sublime pass to Sturdy, who cuts inside but floats his cross the wrong side of the crossbar
34 mins - Another good corner from Sturdy on left, which we failed to attack and the ball bounces through their defence.
37 mins - Another Glyn ball over the top. Mix up in defence over who is going to clear it, before ball is scrambled away for a corner. Corner easily defended.
40 mins - Glyn ball over top and catches defence flat-footed. Glyn have two players clear and only Hillier to beat. As he comes off his line, the forward (instead of passing sideways to team-mate) flashes shot wide.

2nd HALF LINE-UP
HILLIER KENYON - BURNS - TARLTON - DENISON C DENISON J - STAFFORD-HILL (Capt) - TRYHORN - STURDY FERGUSON M - TEGG

Changes were made at half time and all substitutes used up as Jacob Denison and Michael Ferguson were brought on for Dean Moss and Richard Ferguson respectively. Both Michael and Jacob were given instructions before the interval. Jacob to get forward more and to drive at their left back who appeared vulnerable to pace and Michael was asked to give the back four and the keeper no time to settle on the ball at all and to be a real pest throughout.

It was clear to all that we had dominated the game and Glyn had seen very little of the ball. As we'd started to go quiet during the last 10 minutes of the half the team were told to raise their communication with each other. The few chances that Glyn had were also discussed as these had been totally preventable had we not let the ball bounce between defence and midfield. We had on occasion also been done for pace and Joe Burns was asked to drop a yard off his marker as the ball was kicked from defence in order to provide cover for Tim and the other defenders.

Once again chances and despite all our possession a number of chances had gone begging. Better teams than Glyn would prevent us with fewer opportunities and therefore we must concentrate when in a goalscoring position... and with that, we took to the field.

Time-Line
54 Mins - Stafford-Hill wins 50/50 and both Ferguson and Tegg pull right taking defenders with them. This leaves space and he threads through to Sturdy who has run into the gap. Sturdy turns and runs before unleashing a shot from just inside area. It is straight at the keeper, but instead of catching it he boots the ball out.
55 mins - Denison J cuts inside from right and receives from Stafford-Hill. Running forward he is presented with 2 opportunities to shoot and decides against both. His pass reaches Ferguson M, but the opportunity is lost as he is crowded out.
58 mins - GOAL! - Lovely combination of passes along the floor starts when Denison C hits ball to Ferguson, who passes it back to Stafford-Hill as Sturdy makes an overlapping run past Michael. Stafford-Hill sees this and threads it through to Sturdy, who taps it past defender and runs at goal. Goalkeeper covers near post, but not a problem for Sturdy who scores with low shot to far corner. 1-0 Whits.
60 mins - GOAL! - Ball is passed back to Glyn goalkeeper, but is put under pressure by Ferguson. Keeper mis-kicks ball to Ferguson, who floats it over him without even looking at goal. Lost causes rewarded. 2-0 Whits.
64 mins - Tegg receives ball from Tryhorn and with deft turn he beats the last man. With only the keeper to beat (who has run into no-mans land) he hits his shot wide. "Pick your spot" is what he shouts at us in training.
64 mins - Opposition are decent bunch and its been a clean game, but Glyn now getting frustrated with themselves and take it out on referee over every decision. Call goes out for us to concentrate and not get involved.
68 mins - Tryhorn collects ball in midfield and sees Ferguson and Tegg both break forward. He passes ball to Ferguson and we have a 2-on-1 situation. Ferguson makes wrong choice and snaps at a poor shot, when the pass to Tegg was a better option.
70 mins - PENALTY! - GOAL! - Ferguson redeems his earlier mistake. While Glyn have stopped to berate referee over minor decision - we don't - Ferguson collects ball from Denison J and runs into box only to be tripped from behind. Sturdy places ball to keeper's right and scores. 3-0 Whits.
73 mins - Sturdy long throw-in to Tryhorn who is standing near penalty spot. His back-flick header is just inches wrong side of far post.
76 mins - LET OFF! - Defence take eye off ball allowing a Glyn forward to run through and catch us off guard. He wins ball and shoots low across box. Hillier is beaten for first time, but fortunately the ball hits the upright and then rolls across goal to be cleared by Burns.
83 mins - Glyn win corner and put in a nice cross. Shout from Stafford-Hill and a great clearing header as he is put under pressure by two Glyn players.
88 mins - Sturdy sends a good throw-in to Tegg, who turns and passes low across box. It beats everyone, including Denison J whose wholehearted lunge might have connected had he been about 6' 5" instead of 5' 6".
94 mins - GOAL! - Consolation goal for Glyn as Tarlton, who's had a flawless game to his point, is adjudged to have pushed Glyn forward on edge of box. He is affronted at decision... we all saw it!.. Glyn forward beats Hillier to his right to undeservedly deny him of his first clean sheet of the season.

... and that was that. Our first competitive game and our first three points. Many positives have been taken from this game and it is even clearer where our weaknesses lie. However, now we know our weaknesses we can work to ovecome them. What's more, we scored three good goals and all created by taking the game to the opposition.

In summary, it had been a very dominant game from our perspective and we had outplayed Glyn in all areas. We had restricted them from building up any kind of play, gave them zero space and time... and they in turn had ben over-reliant on the pace of their forwards. However, they were no mugs and will be a hard team to beat for most teams in the division and I'm sure we'll find the return fixture more difficult than this was.

The chances they had were mistakes on our part, which we need to eradicate from our game if we desire this league title enough. We have a much tougher proposition next week, with our first league away game, against Old Bromleians III.

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Man-of-the-Match Result

	Player	Ref	1st	2nd	Total
1st	Stafford-Hill	-	6	3	15
2nd	Sturdy	-	6	2	14
3rd=	Denison C	-	2	2	6
3rd=	Ferguson M	-	1	4	6
3rd=	Kenyon	-	2	2	6
6th	Hillier	3	-	-	3
7th=	Burns	-	-	2	2
7th=	Tryhorn	-	-	2	2

 

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