Having spent most of Saturday composing an email to parents berating the behaviour of my players I now have the happy pleasure of compiling a Match Report praising the very same players for an exemplary and disciplined performance against Perrywood... particularly in the face an appallingly inept performance from the match referee.
In a complete contrast to Friday's debacle the boys responded positively and with a great deal of passion and energy to make one of the division's leading sides look distinctly average.
When after 10 minutes the "referee" failed to give a clear foul on Joe B and Perrywood broke away and scored I feared the worst but the boys responded magnificently. Joe B was superb in the first half and seemed to be everywhere on the pitch as we dominated possession. Alex O, like a number of players playing his fourth match in eight days, also worked tirelessly, chasing down opponents and winning back possession regularly.
Despite plenty of the ball we, like Friday, seemed unable to create any clear cut scoring opportunities until right at the end of the half we thought we had achieved an equaliser but Chris Smith's brilliant free kick was well saved by the 'keeper.
In the second half we made one small change pushing Mike Bell further forward and dropping the always busy Scott G just behind him and it paid off as Mike Bell converted ten minutes in for 1-1. Mike then dropped into midfield for the remainder of the match replacing the tired Alex O and played brilliantly working his socks off to win back possession and create chances for Ed up front which unfortunately he was unable to convert.
When Perrywood did break our defence worked very well together today with Tyler & Chris getting in some timely tackles, Tom covering and supporting his team mates superbly and George, in particular, outstanding on the right.
Nathan was called into action late in the game and made a brave save at the feet of a Perrywood striker but all in all 1-1 was a deserved result.
After my disappointment Friday, I must admit that I was very proud of the boys today. Their conduct was first class. The referee was extremely poor today (for both sides) and seemed unwilling or unable to give any decisions and I thought the players handled this extremely well. As a result of this positive behaviour and because their concentration remained on the game the performance was extremely pleasing and the result very good. The team work was very evident and the willingness of the players to pull together and work for each other resulted in a job well done. My thanks to the boys for this.
Men of the Match - George Collett & Joe Barras
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