I am sorry to say that in the pub myself included we seemed to focus on the negative points rather than the good which really was the vast majority of the game, so for me in hindsight it has taken the shine off what I thought was a really good team performance. Oh who was that Muppet on the phone, I wonder if he got his job back (NOT) I better watch out in case his mates are jumping in the car to come round in 20 mins just in time to make sure everyone has gone MUPPET.
To the game; it really was a great game of football, tight and exciting to watch (if you’re a Knight). We controlled the game really well with a new system that required all players other than Shaggy to take up new and unfamiliar positions. We also went into this game with two players who needed some protection and if I’m honest I would have accepted losing rather than end up with someone hurt so thanks for stepping in to Trumpton and especially Longballdie who had the previous week declared himself unfit for some time. If that’s unfit I can’t wait to see the all singing and dancing version (pun intended).
As a unit in the first half we played right up against their back 3 and disrupted, tackled and generally made life really difficult for them, a great start against our boggy team. Everyone contributed and worked hard, Aim didn’t look like scoring and due to the work rate and positioning from back to front we didn’t look like conceding. I don’t want to pick anyone out but ABBA really put them and kept them on the back foot to the point that I cant remember anyone breaking down that side of the park, in fact I they hardly came down the wings at all which considering the 311 system they played is a credit to both midfielders, everything came through the middle and just washed against the back 2. Longballdie and Trumpton never looked like anything was going to get past them, in fact Longballdie did such a good job on their striker he was virtually invisible. We know how hard it is to score against that system as we’ve used it ourselves to great effect so Shaggy was always going to have a tough shift and by the end of the first half I thought we had totally outplayed them.
Second half was more of the same but they became frustrated and tired and as the spaces opened up both midfield and backs were able to make good surges into the gaps creating our best opportunities and what a goal from Longballdie! The goalie had no chance but we must also take not – 2 man wall!!!!. In the end a draw flattered them but that’s the way it goes sometimes and to be honest over the last 3 games I’ve seen nothing to make me believe that we don’t belong in this division in fact I think we should be targeting a top 4 finish and get into the Champions League.
