jump to navigation

14 Oct 2007: Grasshoppers 3:2 Worth Park Rangers (aet) October 15, 2007

Posted by editor in : Uncategorized , trackback

This turned into a real full blooded cup tie.  It was an odd game in some ways, in that we never really looked like losing, but we were 2-1 down at one stage. 

We started well, with some slick passing moves and good movement.  We created several chances and I can only put our failure to score down to what happened last week, when Ben scored and was immediately subbed off.  The forwards had clearly decided that they weren’t going to risk that happening again, so the ball was going in any direction except goalward.  It couldn’t last though, and eventually Jake was put through, tried to put his shot wide, but mishit it into the corner of the net.

 

We continued to create chances, but instead of going further in front, we were pegged back when we failed to mark up in our own 6 yard box and the smallest player on the field (his registration card gave his name as T Thumb and had a full size photo of him) slipped in front of his marker and scored with an excellent header at the near post.A few minutes later, things got worse, when we failed to clear our lines properly and Josh lost the resulting cross in the sun, which resulted in him gently placing the ball onto the head of their striker who just couldn’t miss.  2-1 up,

Worth

Park gained in confidence and started attacking us at will.  They had several decent attempts, which we generally defended well and throughout a period of sustained pressure, we never lost our shape and never panicked.  After about ten minutes of pressure, Josh broke their hearts, when he made a superb save from an excellent shot, which was heading for the top corner.  He got a great hand to it and pushed it over the bar at full stretch.  At that moment, they seemed to realise that they weren’t going to score again. 

We gradually reasserted ourselves and pushed them backwards.  The central midfield pairing of Craig and J-P had another excellent game, with Craig especially getting through an immense amount of work.  We had a few more efforts, although it seemed that Sam and Ben had left their shooting boots at home.  Jake on the other hand was shooting on sight, with the objective of taking the goalkeeper into the net with the ball.  He eventually managed it, when put clear through for the umpteenth time, he hammered the ball and the keeper couldn’t do anything other than push it into the air and behind him, where it gently bounced into the net. 

The second half was more one-sided.  Worth Park’s attacks were fewer and further between, whilst we kept going forward.  We just didn’t quite have that cutting edge.  To their credit, they did get the ball in our net on three occasions, but all were rightly ruled out for a foul, handball and offside.  Scott came on up front for Jake and Tom did well at right back, coming on for Sammy.  The pressure took its toll on

Worth

Park , and their discipline started to slip.  There were a few niggly fouls and a couple of nasty verbal exchanges, which we generally ignored, but need to totally ignore! 

During extra time, we were clearly the fitter side and Scott then demonstrated how to foul properly, when one of their defenders was left in a heap.  From my position, it looked as though Scott had got the ball, but observers on the other side were not surprised when the ref carded him.  The challenge also raised the temperature further, with some of their players losing their composure.  One foul on Sam T was followed up with a very nasty kick off the ball, which would definitely have resulted in a red card had the ref seen it.

We finally got the winner in the second period of extra time, when after some good work through the midfield and forwards, Nip chased down what could have been a lost cause, recovered the ball and finished well from a tight angle.

There were a number of very pleasing things to come out of the game.  The team kept its discipline and shape very well throughout against a decent team, and of course the sheer character of the group, which resurfaced a few weeks ago against Marle Place, is well and truly back to normal.  Fitness was good and the attitude was excellent, with people playing where they were asked and not showing disappointment when subbed.  That makes it so much easier to manage the team. 

Goals this week for Jake (2) and Nip.  Honourable mentions to Nip who did well out on the right, Sam who ran all day as usual, JP who is back to something like his best and Jake who never stopped showing for the ball and kept shooting.  MoM was Craig, for workrate, commitment and all round performance.  The CRAP award is difficult this week, as I’m not really comfortable with either of the contenders.  Josh had a major mitigating factor when dropping the ball, as it came out of the sun like a Japanese fighter plane and I know that Scott would never have deliberately tried to hurt an opponent and I really like it when our players commit to tackles.  On balance though, Scott gets it for the yellow card..  But don’t be downhearted Scott.  If I could identify which defender got beaten in the air by a midget, it would have been no contest!

Well done guys.  Our season continues to gain momentum!

Comments»

no comments yet - be the first?