Post by bluephysio on Mar 6, 2011 12:37:09 GMT 1
What a disappointing week for our reserves against Blofield at home on wed night and Kirkley away on Sat. On Wed we lined up against Blofield with a very strong team which included Paul Cook, Steve Jordan and Claudio Langlois , who was returning from injury. So we had high hopes of a victory to get our faultering campaign back on track after some rather lack lustre recent performances. The game itself went plenty much to manager Eastaughs script, with us playing some good football in large parts of the game and it would not be unfair to say that for 65% of the game we had to upper hand. Unfortunately we could not convert the chances we had with Paul Cook and John Curtis in particular not finding the net when shooting from close range. Also we had a stone-wall penalty turned turn when Claudio was up ended in the box. As usual we lived to regret missing such gold plated chances as Blofield took both of their only real chances presented to them on the night. Their first goal came courtesy of a slip by Jimmy Layton which allowed a Blofield player to scuff a shot past Nathan Pauling into the bottom corner and a defensive mistake from an unnecessary free kick which allowed a Blofield player to head past Nathan from 4 yards out. It would be unfair to criticise any individuals on the night because as I said we did control most of the game but lady luck seemed to avoid us in this game.
So on to Kirkley away. Once again the team changed with Paul Cook going back into the first eleven but saw the return of Jamie George to our ranks. We still retained the services of Steve Jordan and Claudio Langlois so once again we felt confident that we could get a result. This game started with Kirkley putting us on the back foot for the first 15 mins and we struggled to get a grip on their lively midfield but once our centre midfield 3 of Dan Cooke, Jamie Atkins and Andy Eastaugh sorted themselves out we started to establish ourselves in this game and once again it would be fair to say we did look the more likely team to score. Sadly, as in many other games I have witnessed this season, we allow the opposition to score first and put us under unnecessary pressure. This time it came from a free kick given away just outside which allowed a Kirkley player to power a header at Kai Hewitt in our goal , which he did really well to save but the rebound was knocked in from 2 yards out. Now it has to be said that this free kick was dubious in the least and was not the first and certainly the last to come from a rather eccentric referee who was intent on behaving like some over indulgent pantomime dame and was certainly not aided by an over zealous young linesman who sounded like he ate rule books for lunch!! A prime example of this was the most ridiculous fiasco i have ever witnessed on a touchline, when both this referee and this linesman decided they did not like the colour of our young substitute Luke Thackers under pants! I could not for the life of me see where there was a problem as they were clearly not visible but this comedy sketch involving these two men in black had to be played out to the letter of the law and hence poor Luke had to strip of his pants in full view of the Kirkley public !!! What a carry on !!
Never mind back to the game and after Kirkley scored we regained our composure and set about getting an equalizer which came in the shape of a penalty when Jamie George was bundled over and he slotted away the penalty with great aplomb. Once level we looked for another and certainly had chances with Claudio having 2 great half chances to score and what looked like a penalty claim turned down when it looked obvious to me that he was brought down in the box and not outside it as the ref indicated. During the second period of this game we once again had most of the possession and played some neat stuff but could not fashion a real goal scoring finnish-a trait that has now become all too familiar with our performances and now seems to be our Achilles heel with other teams taking advantage of our wasteful finishing. And once again this turned out to be the case when a hopefully hit cross field ball some how found the rather portly figure of the experienced Danny Stokeld and he outmuscled our defenders to fire past Kai Hewitt and put Kirkley back into a lead they certainly did not deserve. This did not deflate our lads and if anything we went at the Kirkley defence with more determination but it seems once again lady luck has said bye bye to Wroxham FC reserves as we had more great chances to get level with Steve Jordan crashing a header against the bar and Jamie George missing from 5 yards out when he mis hit a shot.
So at the final whistle once again we lost and sadly once again to a team that were no where as talented as us. It would be hard to really lay the blame at the feet of the players as they all tried as hard as they could in both these last matches but it has to be said, our finishing leaves a lot to be desired and although we look confident in defence most of the time and our midfield work rate is good, we look rather flimsy in and around the box with players looking like they are not willing to take a more physical approach on keeping the ball and allowing us time to get in better goal scoring areas. This coupled to some rather wastefull finishing has now led to us dropping a shed full of points against teams in the last month or so that really we should have hammered off the park.
Fair to say now that we will struggle to get a top 3 place and any more slip ups like these past weeks could realistically see us finish mid table. This would certainly be a travesty taking into account the really quality sides that manager Eastaugh has assembled throughout this campaign and comparing us to Cromer FC, who look like they will probably go on to win this league, we are certainly equal to their ability if not better on most days.
So on to next week and Beccles away- another ground we always seem to struggle at. Lets hope we can turn our from around and show people in this league that we are a team to be reckoned with.
So on to Kirkley away. Once again the team changed with Paul Cook going back into the first eleven but saw the return of Jamie George to our ranks. We still retained the services of Steve Jordan and Claudio Langlois so once again we felt confident that we could get a result. This game started with Kirkley putting us on the back foot for the first 15 mins and we struggled to get a grip on their lively midfield but once our centre midfield 3 of Dan Cooke, Jamie Atkins and Andy Eastaugh sorted themselves out we started to establish ourselves in this game and once again it would be fair to say we did look the more likely team to score. Sadly, as in many other games I have witnessed this season, we allow the opposition to score first and put us under unnecessary pressure. This time it came from a free kick given away just outside which allowed a Kirkley player to power a header at Kai Hewitt in our goal , which he did really well to save but the rebound was knocked in from 2 yards out. Now it has to be said that this free kick was dubious in the least and was not the first and certainly the last to come from a rather eccentric referee who was intent on behaving like some over indulgent pantomime dame and was certainly not aided by an over zealous young linesman who sounded like he ate rule books for lunch!! A prime example of this was the most ridiculous fiasco i have ever witnessed on a touchline, when both this referee and this linesman decided they did not like the colour of our young substitute Luke Thackers under pants! I could not for the life of me see where there was a problem as they were clearly not visible but this comedy sketch involving these two men in black had to be played out to the letter of the law and hence poor Luke had to strip of his pants in full view of the Kirkley public !!! What a carry on !!
Never mind back to the game and after Kirkley scored we regained our composure and set about getting an equalizer which came in the shape of a penalty when Jamie George was bundled over and he slotted away the penalty with great aplomb. Once level we looked for another and certainly had chances with Claudio having 2 great half chances to score and what looked like a penalty claim turned down when it looked obvious to me that he was brought down in the box and not outside it as the ref indicated. During the second period of this game we once again had most of the possession and played some neat stuff but could not fashion a real goal scoring finnish-a trait that has now become all too familiar with our performances and now seems to be our Achilles heel with other teams taking advantage of our wasteful finishing. And once again this turned out to be the case when a hopefully hit cross field ball some how found the rather portly figure of the experienced Danny Stokeld and he outmuscled our defenders to fire past Kai Hewitt and put Kirkley back into a lead they certainly did not deserve. This did not deflate our lads and if anything we went at the Kirkley defence with more determination but it seems once again lady luck has said bye bye to Wroxham FC reserves as we had more great chances to get level with Steve Jordan crashing a header against the bar and Jamie George missing from 5 yards out when he mis hit a shot.
So at the final whistle once again we lost and sadly once again to a team that were no where as talented as us. It would be hard to really lay the blame at the feet of the players as they all tried as hard as they could in both these last matches but it has to be said, our finishing leaves a lot to be desired and although we look confident in defence most of the time and our midfield work rate is good, we look rather flimsy in and around the box with players looking like they are not willing to take a more physical approach on keeping the ball and allowing us time to get in better goal scoring areas. This coupled to some rather wastefull finishing has now led to us dropping a shed full of points against teams in the last month or so that really we should have hammered off the park.
Fair to say now that we will struggle to get a top 3 place and any more slip ups like these past weeks could realistically see us finish mid table. This would certainly be a travesty taking into account the really quality sides that manager Eastaugh has assembled throughout this campaign and comparing us to Cromer FC, who look like they will probably go on to win this league, we are certainly equal to their ability if not better on most days.
So on to next week and Beccles away- another ground we always seem to struggle at. Lets hope we can turn our from around and show people in this league that we are a team to be reckoned with.
