Two days after this disappointing result and it still pains me to write about it. So I will keep it short... somewhat.
I thought we were up for the cup and when we were in the changing room before the game the signs looked promising. A solid side was put together from only 13 replies through the week. James sitting in midfield would be our first line of defence and so it proved for the first 20 minutes until Kenny got a thigh strain and James went to centre back and Martin BG was his replacement. I would have to say regardless of who played where we did not stamp any authority on the game from start to finish. They were more organised and fitter (surprisingly) and had a knack of moving the ball better than us and taking their chances well. The only positive thing that happened in the first half was Ross controlling the ball with his right foot lifting it up and controlling with his left before smashing it from 25/30 yards beyond a hapless keeper. A bollocking ensued at half time which I hoped would ignite any chance of wanting to win this game. I was wrong. Admittedly we upped our game but conceded early which found us 3-1 down. We had a 15 minute spell which saw some good football but they were running the midfield and we were becoming tired. Final score 4-2 and they deserved their win. They have Garston in the next round and I cant see them getting any further, but hey it's the cup. Lets be ready for our next game against Stotfold.
Foot note-:
Cracking save from good Tony in the first half. A deflected shot going the opposite way to the keeper and he still managed to save it one handed.
Goodbye Sir Ronald
Quack quack
Wednesday 29 October 2014
Monday 20 October 2014
Knobs 3 Whitewebbs 6
A wise man once told me (or maybe it was Gavin) that if you want to criticise then you should sandwich the criticism between 2 pieces of praise. So here goes –
We had a good turnout this week. We have now played 32 different players in just 8 games. The match being a friendly allowed us to revolve the players, start some players who deserved some playing time and give minutes to players returning form injury. There was a record crowd in attendance and I am sure they thoroughly enjoyed all of the goals. All very nice.
Before the match the new concept of “the last 2 to leave the changing room have to sweep up after the game” was introduced. Unfortunately this was the quickest that many of the players in the team moved all day as the changing room emptied quicker than a John Boyle pint glass. The new concept of “if you turn up late, you start as sub” will be discussed at the next managers meeting. The management dream team run a tight ship!
This is the first time this season when the team have not played well. The oppo were not great, they were not fit, they were not young but they can pass and move. We beat them comfortably at home last year and we would have done again if we had not stopped doing what we have done so well all season. We just did not get in their faces. We did not shut them down. If we did it was done by individuals and not as a team. We have played much better teams this season and got results through pressing them as a team. Let’s get back to doing that. Surely no one enjoyed the game yesterday!
Anyway, somehow we took a 2-0 lead. Both goals were against the run of play but the first was put away well by Dave M who has the pace and composure to trouble anyone we play. The second was a cross that flew straight in from wide on the right. Last week Steve Bradley scored a wonder goal, this week his goal was a little more fortunate!
The 2nd half is too painful to report fully. The highlights were another great goal from Dave M, rounding the keeper after a great 1-2 with Steve Bradley. The oppo linesman ruled out a Dave M goal for offside when he clearly was not. The linesman was actually 20 yards behind play and that is being generous to him. It mattered not, as we let them do whatever they wanted with the ball. They had multiple pass options when they looked up and they just passed around us or in 1 case run from their own half all the way through to score unchallenged. Embarrassing. Maybe I’m being too tough but I hate losing and hate it even more when we don’t compete.
Special mention goes to Ally who scored an own goal from 2 centimetres out when trying to clear.
Back to the positives. We continue to score goals even when we play badly. It is the first time in 8 games we have not played well so hopefully a one off. Richard continues to be a rock at the back. Dave M looks like he’ll be a threat whenever he plays. A much better turnout at the pub but I am not sure we got our money’s worth this week with a plate of brown stuff per team being all we were offered.
This week sees us continue or journey in the cup and I’m sure we will be up for the challenge and a place in the quarter finals.
We had a good turnout this week. We have now played 32 different players in just 8 games. The match being a friendly allowed us to revolve the players, start some players who deserved some playing time and give minutes to players returning form injury. There was a record crowd in attendance and I am sure they thoroughly enjoyed all of the goals. All very nice.
Before the match the new concept of “the last 2 to leave the changing room have to sweep up after the game” was introduced. Unfortunately this was the quickest that many of the players in the team moved all day as the changing room emptied quicker than a John Boyle pint glass. The new concept of “if you turn up late, you start as sub” will be discussed at the next managers meeting. The management dream team run a tight ship!
This is the first time this season when the team have not played well. The oppo were not great, they were not fit, they were not young but they can pass and move. We beat them comfortably at home last year and we would have done again if we had not stopped doing what we have done so well all season. We just did not get in their faces. We did not shut them down. If we did it was done by individuals and not as a team. We have played much better teams this season and got results through pressing them as a team. Let’s get back to doing that. Surely no one enjoyed the game yesterday!
Anyway, somehow we took a 2-0 lead. Both goals were against the run of play but the first was put away well by Dave M who has the pace and composure to trouble anyone we play. The second was a cross that flew straight in from wide on the right. Last week Steve Bradley scored a wonder goal, this week his goal was a little more fortunate!
The 2nd half is too painful to report fully. The highlights were another great goal from Dave M, rounding the keeper after a great 1-2 with Steve Bradley. The oppo linesman ruled out a Dave M goal for offside when he clearly was not. The linesman was actually 20 yards behind play and that is being generous to him. It mattered not, as we let them do whatever they wanted with the ball. They had multiple pass options when they looked up and they just passed around us or in 1 case run from their own half all the way through to score unchallenged. Embarrassing. Maybe I’m being too tough but I hate losing and hate it even more when we don’t compete.
Special mention goes to Ally who scored an own goal from 2 centimetres out when trying to clear.
Back to the positives. We continue to score goals even when we play badly. It is the first time in 8 games we have not played well so hopefully a one off. Richard continues to be a rock at the back. Dave M looks like he’ll be a threat whenever he plays. A much better turnout at the pub but I am not sure we got our money’s worth this week with a plate of brown stuff per team being all we were offered.
This week sees us continue or journey in the cup and I’m sure we will be up for the challenge and a place in the quarter finals.
Monday 13 October 2014
Wilbury Wanderers 4 vs KNOBS 3 (But we win on appeal!)
It was a funny old game as Greavsie used to say. The lunchtime kick-off was clearly more popular with them than it was for us and the original referee. This was reflected in the fact that we let in a goal after 10 seconds! Despite this early set back though, we battled back into the game well and it wasn’t long before we were level as Dave Millhouse nipped onto a poor headed back pass and finished with a beautiful lob. We were having a lot of success down the right flank but sadly many of the attacks came to nothing. They scored a second before half-time but I can’t remember much about that.
In the second half, Steve came on, with Ross moving to the right flank after previously being on the left flank. They scored a third when their twat of a centre forward managed to get to the by-line and cross the ball which seem to evade all our defenders and one of their guys kicked the ball in. Steve then scored the goal of the game and potential KNOBS goal of the season with a jinking run that took him past three defenders before calmly chipping over the keeper from some distance. They then scored a fourth after another change when the player-manager took himself off and Lee came on (he was told a wrong time to meet at The Station) with Paul moving to a central midfield role. Basically one of their guys toe-punted the ball into the top corner…from the comments afterwards, it appears he has a knack for it. Dave managed to get another goal, again nipping in after a poor back pass and slowly the game petered out with continual ill-feeling and they won 4-3. They probably were the better team but seeing their goalkeeper time waste as if it was a Champions League match was something to behold and made for a rather frustrating time.
However, after the game we did point out that they had been playing with a 31 year old which is against the league rules. Darren had used the guy to do some work for him and had informed him he couldn’t play for the KNOBS due to his age. Clearly that hadn’t stopped Wilbury accepting his services. Chairman Al informed their guy that we would be putting in a complaint. They then said that we should have informed them but Darren had pointed out to a number of their players that he was under-age and yet he still continued to play. We probably wouldn’t have been so petty if we considered them a nice bunch of lads but alas…we didn’t. Which all adds some spice to the next time we see them which will be in the Herts County Cup in two weeks.
The team played well in patches. Paul really holds up the play well and when moved to the middle in the second half we missed that up front. Dave is a very tidy finisher when he gets the chance. That combo could have plenty of goals if they play enough together!
Nearly forgot…Tony C wanted me to point out that he basically started the move that set up Steve’s goal. To be honest, he could probably say that for nearly every goal we’ve ever scored! Oh…he also made two fantastic saves…one going into the top corner in the first half and a one-on-one in the second. But writing that just reminded me of the second goal. Tony came out to punch the ball and was beaten by a header that went into the empty net.
Team: Tony C, Gerry, Richard, Chairman Al, Dave, Gavin, Bully, Darren, Ross, Dave M, Paul. Subs: Lee and Steve
In the second half, Steve came on, with Ross moving to the right flank after previously being on the left flank. They scored a third when their twat of a centre forward managed to get to the by-line and cross the ball which seem to evade all our defenders and one of their guys kicked the ball in. Steve then scored the goal of the game and potential KNOBS goal of the season with a jinking run that took him past three defenders before calmly chipping over the keeper from some distance. They then scored a fourth after another change when the player-manager took himself off and Lee came on (he was told a wrong time to meet at The Station) with Paul moving to a central midfield role. Basically one of their guys toe-punted the ball into the top corner…from the comments afterwards, it appears he has a knack for it. Dave managed to get another goal, again nipping in after a poor back pass and slowly the game petered out with continual ill-feeling and they won 4-3. They probably were the better team but seeing their goalkeeper time waste as if it was a Champions League match was something to behold and made for a rather frustrating time.
However, after the game we did point out that they had been playing with a 31 year old which is against the league rules. Darren had used the guy to do some work for him and had informed him he couldn’t play for the KNOBS due to his age. Clearly that hadn’t stopped Wilbury accepting his services. Chairman Al informed their guy that we would be putting in a complaint. They then said that we should have informed them but Darren had pointed out to a number of their players that he was under-age and yet he still continued to play. We probably wouldn’t have been so petty if we considered them a nice bunch of lads but alas…we didn’t. Which all adds some spice to the next time we see them which will be in the Herts County Cup in two weeks.
The team played well in patches. Paul really holds up the play well and when moved to the middle in the second half we missed that up front. Dave is a very tidy finisher when he gets the chance. That combo could have plenty of goals if they play enough together!
Nearly forgot…Tony C wanted me to point out that he basically started the move that set up Steve’s goal. To be honest, he could probably say that for nearly every goal we’ve ever scored! Oh…he also made two fantastic saves…one going into the top corner in the first half and a one-on-one in the second. But writing that just reminded me of the second goal. Tony came out to punch the ball and was beaten by a header that went into the empty net.
Team: Tony C, Gerry, Richard, Chairman Al, Dave, Gavin, Bully, Darren, Ross, Dave M, Paul. Subs: Lee and Steve
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