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6 Jan 2008: Grasshoppers 2:1 Ifield January 11, 2008

Posted by editor in : Uncategorized , trackback

This was our first home match for ages, in the last 16 of the

County

Cup , against opposition from several leagues higher than us- aren’t they all?  The pitch was recovering from frost and was a touch hard, but that was preferable to the bog it would otherwise have been!

 

 

 

Ifield were as good a team as we have played this year.  They had some outstanding players, including the big left back and two small nippy strikers.  From our point of view it was an odd game.  We never seemed to get the ball under control and string together a series of passes and we didn’t hammer away at their defence like we normally do.  The through balls from midfield didn’t seem to be coming off and as a result, we were limited to relatively few chances in the game.  Normally reliable players seemed out of sorts with balls bouncing off shins, knees, shoulders and all points in between.  Max Aldred missed a tackle.  It was that bad.  It was like we’d all had too much turkey over Christmas and lost a bit of our energy.

 

 

 

On the other hand, boy did we make some tackles!  We never stopped running and chasing and we always put them under pressure- which they obviously weren’t used to.

 

 

 

We scored about 10 minutes in, when we did manage to string some passes together.  A move involving Max, Cian and Tom ended with the ball breaking to Oskar, who kept his head well to withstand a challenge and finish low past the keeper.

 

 

 

10 minutes later, another well judged pass found the new boy Miles on the left just inside the opposition half- where he had gone to avoid me shouting at him!  He had plenty to do, but showed excellent strength and tenacity to keep hold of the ball before firing a low shot from just outside the box.  The keeper did very well to get a hand on it, but couldn’t get enough on it to divert it past the post.

 

 

 

We then spent the rest of the match defending like tigers.  Some of the tackles put in by the defence and midfield were excellent, notably a

Harrison special to hook the ball away.  Every time they got past one, there were two others waiting and at one stage I even saw Oskar tracking back and getting stuck in.

 

 

 

Great performances this week from Harry, who shielded the defence well, Tom and Cian, who made more than their share of tackles.  But man of the match was Thomas for a storming performance at the back.

 

 

 

Goals for Oskar and Miles and the CRAP award goes to Connor, who has somehow managed to break his foot.  It was a close run thing though, as

Harrison made a late bid for the award when he ignored everyone screaming at him from the side, and wiped out their striker to give away a late penalty, which meant that the last couple of minutes were a bit nervous!  But overall, despite the shortage of flowing football, this was a good gutsy performance and another deserved win.

 

 

 

Don’t forget to tell Keith, Phil or Tony if you want to go on the tour at the end of the season.

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