Post by bluephysio on Mar 27, 2011 18:40:37 GMT 1
Another away point for our much changed reserve side this Sat. This time against a lively St Andrews team at Thorpe Rec. Once again we were forced to field a changed side with probably 3 of our most consistent performers Olly King , Sam Giacomelli along with the improving John Curtis, all missing due to injury. So back into the team came Elliot Winter , Andy Eastaugh and Jordan Southgate all of which as we well know , are all quality replacements. Manager Eastaugh once again flexed his technical muscles and decided to play 4-1-4-1 system with Jamie “ The Brows” George being a lone striker. Behind him was a real eye catching midfield of Jamie Atkins , Andy Eastaugh , Ashley Mitchell and Jordan Southgate. Behind these formidable four musketeers was the experienced Marc Campbell ,who was to be the real anchor man in midfield and give us an outlet from which to build our play. Behind these was the real point of interest in manager Eastaughs game plan where he decided to play Elliot Winter at centre half along with Adam Brock. A brave move some might have thought with Elliot always showing great ability as a front man but his tackles are rarer than hen’s teeth. But young manager Eastaugh knows his squad individuals well and once he gave Elliot the necessary information on how to perform in that area and injected him with some confidence we all knew he was capable of doing a job. Along with Elliot and Brockie in the back four was the dependable full backs Matty Banham and Jimmy Layton. Nathan Pauling once again was in the sticks.
We kicked off and it was not one of our better starts and it probably took us 15 mins to get a foot hold in the game . Hard to say if it was down to the change of personel or just that St Andrews thought it best for them to get out of the blocks early, which ever way we did struggle first 15 but once we settled down and our midfield found their feet we slowly but surely gained the upper hand with Young Ashley Mitchell looking our best bet for some attacking joy with his pacey and ultra-direct approach play giving the Saints back four a very hard time. This coupled to Jamie Atkins and Andy Eastaughs industry in the centre of the park we did look dead certs to find the net first and this we did in the 36 min when another piece of individual skill from Ashley Mitchell allowed Jamie Atkins a two-yard tap in. So at last we were on top and from that moment on it did seem from the side line that a second would be an eventuality. But try as we did we could not breach a very stubborn Saints rearguard with us having some excellent amounts of build up play and some good passing moves. It would not be fair to say that it was not always us on top in this half as St Andrews did have half decent spells of possession and did make it to the danger area around our penalty box but the new partnership of Brockie and Elliot Winter stood firm with Elliot in particular, now starting to actually look like he was enjoying his new roll as he carried the ball out of defence on numerous occasions and set up attacking moves not to mention actually tackling with some conviction ! . So half time arrived and in at the break 1-0 up and looking fairly comfortable on it. During the break manager Eastaugh ironed out any qualms the players had about our first half performance and instructed the lads to just keep on battling and try and protect our lead as this game did look like it was going to be low scoring and the one goal would see us grabbing the points.
So out we went for the second half and sadly our performance went a bit like the weather –rather damp, gloomy and decidedly miserable !! We seemed to abandon the cohesive unit technique that we played in the first half and time and time again we had players out of position and this married to individual errors from some players, we did once again find ourselves on the back foot. To fair to the lads they did roll their sleeves up after a while and we did get haul our backsides into the game when it did look inevitable that St Andrews would get an equaliser. But sadly, as seems to have been the case all season, we conceded a very soft goal after losing possession and showing some poor indecisive defending out on the wing. Think it would be fair to say that the impetuous was definitely with St Andrews now and once again the nerves were tested on the Wroxham bench. We did have spells were we looked like we could snatch this game but we did lack real conviction in and around the penalty area with our final shot or pass not finding the target with any real quality. The game went a bit end to end in the final stages and either team could have nicked it. Glad to say tho at the back Elliot Winter was still revelling in his new position and time after time showed great awareness with his interceptions and distribution of the ball. At the death St Andrews nearly fluked a winner when a wind assisted-punt down field from their keeper bounced over Nathans head but thank the lord it bounced over the crossbar too. So the final whistle went and a draw a fair result on balance of play.
Difficult to some up if was a point gained or two dropped. Definitely with the mood in the dressing room after it was probably perceived by some of the more agitated members of the team that it was 2 points well and truly dropped. Guess it really has been the story of our season that we have lacked any real consistency through out this campaign but as any one will know-in a reserve side this is the always nature of the beast as you hardly ever have the same team two games running and on that basis there will always be games where we struggle to get going as well as the players would like, but is nice to see their dedication and frustration when the team is not performing as well as it should and shows their commitment to the club. One or two stand out performances from the game. First was young Ashley Mitchell who once again showed his potential with some blistering wing play and eagerness to get us on the front foot. Marc Campbell and Jamie Atkins in midfield, showed some neat touches and composed play in difficult windy conditions on a very bumpy pitch. Jamie George once again bravely took many a kick holding up to ball well in a lone centre forward position. But certainly the most eye catching performance of the day came from Elliot Winter in his unaccustomed position of centre half. Elliot ran and tackled every thing that moved around our box and even showed his passing ability with some nice through balls to get us in attacking positions and certainly quietened any doubters (me included !! ) who thought he would fall to pieces in that position.
So at the end of the day we came away cold and wet but with another hard earned point and the players feeling a little hard done by with the result. Lets hope we can build on this draw and gain 3 points when we host a very usefull Mattishall team on the 12th April. One thing that we can all be sure of is that which ever player dons a Wroxham shirt on that night they will have to be up for it or we could be in for a very difficult night –Lets hope for everyone’s nerves its a winning display that is the centre of our conversation next time round !
We kicked off and it was not one of our better starts and it probably took us 15 mins to get a foot hold in the game . Hard to say if it was down to the change of personel or just that St Andrews thought it best for them to get out of the blocks early, which ever way we did struggle first 15 but once we settled down and our midfield found their feet we slowly but surely gained the upper hand with Young Ashley Mitchell looking our best bet for some attacking joy with his pacey and ultra-direct approach play giving the Saints back four a very hard time. This coupled to Jamie Atkins and Andy Eastaughs industry in the centre of the park we did look dead certs to find the net first and this we did in the 36 min when another piece of individual skill from Ashley Mitchell allowed Jamie Atkins a two-yard tap in. So at last we were on top and from that moment on it did seem from the side line that a second would be an eventuality. But try as we did we could not breach a very stubborn Saints rearguard with us having some excellent amounts of build up play and some good passing moves. It would not be fair to say that it was not always us on top in this half as St Andrews did have half decent spells of possession and did make it to the danger area around our penalty box but the new partnership of Brockie and Elliot Winter stood firm with Elliot in particular, now starting to actually look like he was enjoying his new roll as he carried the ball out of defence on numerous occasions and set up attacking moves not to mention actually tackling with some conviction ! . So half time arrived and in at the break 1-0 up and looking fairly comfortable on it. During the break manager Eastaugh ironed out any qualms the players had about our first half performance and instructed the lads to just keep on battling and try and protect our lead as this game did look like it was going to be low scoring and the one goal would see us grabbing the points.
So out we went for the second half and sadly our performance went a bit like the weather –rather damp, gloomy and decidedly miserable !! We seemed to abandon the cohesive unit technique that we played in the first half and time and time again we had players out of position and this married to individual errors from some players, we did once again find ourselves on the back foot. To fair to the lads they did roll their sleeves up after a while and we did get haul our backsides into the game when it did look inevitable that St Andrews would get an equaliser. But sadly, as seems to have been the case all season, we conceded a very soft goal after losing possession and showing some poor indecisive defending out on the wing. Think it would be fair to say that the impetuous was definitely with St Andrews now and once again the nerves were tested on the Wroxham bench. We did have spells were we looked like we could snatch this game but we did lack real conviction in and around the penalty area with our final shot or pass not finding the target with any real quality. The game went a bit end to end in the final stages and either team could have nicked it. Glad to say tho at the back Elliot Winter was still revelling in his new position and time after time showed great awareness with his interceptions and distribution of the ball. At the death St Andrews nearly fluked a winner when a wind assisted-punt down field from their keeper bounced over Nathans head but thank the lord it bounced over the crossbar too. So the final whistle went and a draw a fair result on balance of play.
Difficult to some up if was a point gained or two dropped. Definitely with the mood in the dressing room after it was probably perceived by some of the more agitated members of the team that it was 2 points well and truly dropped. Guess it really has been the story of our season that we have lacked any real consistency through out this campaign but as any one will know-in a reserve side this is the always nature of the beast as you hardly ever have the same team two games running and on that basis there will always be games where we struggle to get going as well as the players would like, but is nice to see their dedication and frustration when the team is not performing as well as it should and shows their commitment to the club. One or two stand out performances from the game. First was young Ashley Mitchell who once again showed his potential with some blistering wing play and eagerness to get us on the front foot. Marc Campbell and Jamie Atkins in midfield, showed some neat touches and composed play in difficult windy conditions on a very bumpy pitch. Jamie George once again bravely took many a kick holding up to ball well in a lone centre forward position. But certainly the most eye catching performance of the day came from Elliot Winter in his unaccustomed position of centre half. Elliot ran and tackled every thing that moved around our box and even showed his passing ability with some nice through balls to get us in attacking positions and certainly quietened any doubters (me included !! ) who thought he would fall to pieces in that position.
So at the end of the day we came away cold and wet but with another hard earned point and the players feeling a little hard done by with the result. Lets hope we can build on this draw and gain 3 points when we host a very usefull Mattishall team on the 12th April. One thing that we can all be sure of is that which ever player dons a Wroxham shirt on that night they will have to be up for it or we could be in for a very difficult night –Lets hope for everyone’s nerves its a winning display that is the centre of our conversation next time round !
