Groan

Holywell Vs Flint Town United Juniors

If I watch this match a hundred times I dont think I'll understand how we lost.

It's not that we managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory but that having been visibly on top we invited defeat out on a date, flattered it all evening and shared a cab home before inviting it in for coffee.

This was a game we were capable of winning. The first 12 minutes showed us that. We were first to every ball, got the tackles in and moved the ball about quite confidently. The only thing we didn't seem to be able to do was shoot. Its not that we didn't have the opportunity but at every shooting chance we seemed to be getting in the way of our own players or wanting to take one more touch rather than just striking the ball. It wouldn't have been unfair for us to have gone into the first quarter interval four or even five nil up and having put the game to bed. As it was, one defensive lapse against the run of play and we ended the first quarter 1-0 down.

Having gone behind the wheels then came off. Visibly the boys were down and their body language showed on the pitch. It was difficult to rouse them into action and the longer the game went on the further down they got.

Against a team that we could reasonably have expected to beat we simply forgot how to play football and didn't put in the effort to make up for it. Time and again the boys pulled out of tackles, failed to clear the ball, left attackers unmarked and most notably of all started ball chasing and losing position.  We still had plenty of opportunities to score but more often than not you could have thrown a blanket over the ball and four of our own team with no-one looking for space and no width available and gave up the ball cheaply. By the time the fourth quarter came round it was hard to see a player running, most were simply jogging and we were over run.

It summed up the day when, awarded a penalty for deliberate hand ball in the third quarter, the Holywell goalkeeper pulled off the save of the match to stop an extremely well hit spot kick. It just wouldn't go in for us!
 
I really feel for the boys and the coaches. They genuinely are better than this. Much better.

We seem to have got stuck in a rut and dont believe that we are capable of winning. Yet playing like we did in the first quarter shows we do have what it takes.

Plenty of self reflection is needed among the players. I am sure not many of them are enjoying football at the moment but if they can dig deep and not give up I am certain that their desire to play and have fun will pull through later in the season, and they'll be able to look back on having over come their nerves and lack of confidence with some pride. It's times like this that I believe they call character building. Plenty of encouragement and support from the sidelines along with the belief that if they don't give up they will do better, will help to see them through these tough times.

Keep the faith!!

Ouch!

Deeside Pheonix Vs Flint Town United Juniors

No, thats not a typo. Much as we would like to believe that we held Deeside Pheonix to a 1-1 draw, it wasn't quite that close.

Following on from a 6-1 loss to Buckley and with a canceled match at Myndd Issa due to a waterlogged pitch we found ourselves facing another of the league's big hitters.

It was a battling game with us surrendering far too much space to a side that knew how to use it well. Our players put in their usual workmanlike performance with plenty of them willing to chase and run all day for the cause, but it wasn't enough. Superior positional play won the day for pheonix.

That's not to say it was all bad by a long way - a number of break away opportunities were well worked and we were unlucky not to score 3 or maybe 4. We showed enough passing play going forwards to give encouragement when we play some of the weaker teams in the league, but too many times we were caught with the the defence lying deep and tackles missed, and more than half of the pheonix goals came from uncleared ball in the box that was finally put in by Deeside rather than cleared by us. Basic marking left a lot to be desired too!

Special note must go to our goalkeeper who had a couple of misses but on the whole pulled off a number of good saves.

It was a baptism of fire for John, managing the team on his own for the first time with Mark skivving off on holiday for the weekend, but with all the parents firmly behind him and the lads no matter what. It's worth noting that the biggest cheer of the day was for our goal and the applause for our lads coming off the pitch after a hard morning was significantly louder than that for the victors.

If this game taught our team anything it should be that it's what you do when you don't have the ball that matters.

PS - the photographer turned up this week but forgot his camera! We really are going to have to have words with him!!