Good all round performance, we were committed and generally played good football in icy and tricky conditions (-2 to -3), especially in the first half when on a number of occasions if we’d taken the easier option or made a more clinical final pass we would have had many more clear opportunities, however their keeper did pull of 2 or 3 great saves but then so did Barry and he made one save that was particularly outstanding. We suffered a poor spell 1st half when Steve Nic hurt his ankle but ran it off while playing ctr back and we went in at half time on equal terms 0 0.
In the 2nd half their superior fitness and movement started to become a problem and after Steve Stopler tweeked a muscle 5 mins in they got their first goal from a great move when they got a man completely free on our right. Their 2nd came from a similar situation so we pushed the struggling Stops up front to play as a poacher, despite his injury Stops bagged a cracking goal to make it 2 1. Shaggy could have nicked a draw with 1 min to go but their goalie made an amazing save to tip his fierce dipping shot onto the bar and over.
In fairness though the best team won, they were overall about 10 – 15% better than us on the night, the main difference being fitness and staying power over the 40 mins. This is probably true of most of the teams in this division, we’re not going to be able to do much about that due to age but to improve and compete we do need to find a way of countering it and make ourselves last longer.
The margins are very fine, even against this team who will probably be 2nd or 3rd but we’re only talking about finding a way to play 10% better for a full 40mins. Obviously being able to play a settled side will help as the chopping and changing personnel causes problems, but I think the main 2 areas we can find a little extra are
1) Communication, I honestly believe we’re too polite on the pitch, we need to be louder – much louder in everything from encouragement, roaring each other on to shouting for the ball and pointing out problems as they occur.
2) Movement with and without the ball, we don’t move the ball quickly enough and take too many touches and this is compounded by players not getting into position to receive a pass or make space for others to receive a pass, better communication will probably help this as well so in general if we can’t be fitter be smarter, etc etc.
Although I hate getting beaten I’m not too disappointed at the result as the team played really well even with the injuries, the only thing is the nagging doubt that it’s possible the team might have found its level, which if it’s true is a shame cause I’d like to think we can beat anyone.

Boss Hogg