Post by bluephysio on Mar 4, 2012 14:35:53 GMT 1
Sadly yesterdays trip to the Cromer seaside for our reserves turned out to be more a horror story than a pier show extravaganza. We arrived at Cromers rather unusual port a cabin changing facilities which do resemble a small scale Dale farm, to find that once again managers Yorke and Harty had a very young and in experienced squad to choose from. Im not taking anything away from our young lads as they always try their best and without doubt have great technical ability but coming to such battle-hardened teams as Cromer, who have vastly experienced players, with a young team always means you are going to be up against it and so it proved.
We still on paper had a decent looking, albeit young, team with one or two experienced heads such as Danny Boswell and Jordan Mace who would be looking to stamp their authority in what we knew would be a difficult fixture. Along with these two we had the young Danny Rust, Ali Durrant ,Rio Starkings along with the dependable and more experienced Craig Terrington at the back. Danny and Jordan were joined in midfield by youngsters Jordan Southgate and Sam Harty making a midfield four. Up top we once again opted for youth with gifted pairing of Jordan Rocastle and Jamie George.
The game started at quite a good pace with Cromer obviously intent on stamping their authority on this game in front of their home supporters. Their robust direct style did have our lads on the back foot for the first 15 mins of the game but they weathered the storm and once we settled down we began to impose ourselves on them in patches. I would even go as far as to say that after about 25 mins we looked a good match for the present Sterry Cup holders with Jordan Southgate looking impressive with his passing range in the centre of the park and with the tigerish tackling of Danny Boswell along sidehim we thought we could get the first break . But sadly we then had the first of two injuries which totally disrupted the teams performance and balance. The first was to Jordan Southgate who’s troublesome knee gave way and then minutes later we lost Jordan Mace to an injured foot . Certainly a major blow as these two players were, at that point, having a good attacking influence and looking a real threat to the opposition. A real blow but Lawro got his subs on and we battled on till half time and kept the score at 0-0. In at half time and Yorkie told the lads to keep going and may be they could snatch a result so out for the second half with real optimism but sadly the wheels soon fell off and we went behind to header. This was quickly followed by another after we lost possession in midfield and it looked curtains for the lads as we started to let our heads drop a bit and Cromer sensed that we were candidates for a real pasting. But as in previous weeks , young Jamie George took up the challenge and with a burst into the Cromer box ,was rewarded with a penalty after he was up-ended by a defender. With great coolness he slotted the penalty away and it looked like we could salvage something from the game. But ,just as in god knows how many previous weeks ,another individual error this time from our keeper Liam Still who gifted the opposition a goal when he tried catch a high ball from under his cross bar but dropped it into the path of a Cromer forward who slammed the ball into his unguarded net. This mistake took the stuffing out of our lads and Cromer then went on to register twice more with us looking a beaten side. Final result Cromer 5 our lads 1.
On reflection this was always going to be the acid test for our young and much changing reserve side. Cromer are an experienced side who know how to play but also have a very strong physical presence and are not afraid to put their foot in when the need occurs. I definitely think this was the major difference between the sides as our young and rather slightly built players found it difficult at times to retain the ball and constantly giving possession away only invites pressure on yourself. Some half decent performances amonst some rather low key ones in the game ,particularly Jordan Southgate before he got injured who looked as good as anyone on the pitch with his tackling and ball distribution and once again Craig Terrington defended resolutely and attacked at every opportunity but probably our best player yesterday was young centre half Ali Durrant who defended bravely and won nearly every header that he went for. Great reward for Ali, as he is another great lad who just gets on with his football and tries to do everything the management ask of him and is definitely improving season by season.
So onto Spixworth away next week. Lets hope we can get back to winning ways and get on track for a top half finish this season-In my opinion anything less would be a disappointment
We still on paper had a decent looking, albeit young, team with one or two experienced heads such as Danny Boswell and Jordan Mace who would be looking to stamp their authority in what we knew would be a difficult fixture. Along with these two we had the young Danny Rust, Ali Durrant ,Rio Starkings along with the dependable and more experienced Craig Terrington at the back. Danny and Jordan were joined in midfield by youngsters Jordan Southgate and Sam Harty making a midfield four. Up top we once again opted for youth with gifted pairing of Jordan Rocastle and Jamie George.
The game started at quite a good pace with Cromer obviously intent on stamping their authority on this game in front of their home supporters. Their robust direct style did have our lads on the back foot for the first 15 mins of the game but they weathered the storm and once we settled down we began to impose ourselves on them in patches. I would even go as far as to say that after about 25 mins we looked a good match for the present Sterry Cup holders with Jordan Southgate looking impressive with his passing range in the centre of the park and with the tigerish tackling of Danny Boswell along sidehim we thought we could get the first break . But sadly we then had the first of two injuries which totally disrupted the teams performance and balance. The first was to Jordan Southgate who’s troublesome knee gave way and then minutes later we lost Jordan Mace to an injured foot . Certainly a major blow as these two players were, at that point, having a good attacking influence and looking a real threat to the opposition. A real blow but Lawro got his subs on and we battled on till half time and kept the score at 0-0. In at half time and Yorkie told the lads to keep going and may be they could snatch a result so out for the second half with real optimism but sadly the wheels soon fell off and we went behind to header. This was quickly followed by another after we lost possession in midfield and it looked curtains for the lads as we started to let our heads drop a bit and Cromer sensed that we were candidates for a real pasting. But as in previous weeks , young Jamie George took up the challenge and with a burst into the Cromer box ,was rewarded with a penalty after he was up-ended by a defender. With great coolness he slotted the penalty away and it looked like we could salvage something from the game. But ,just as in god knows how many previous weeks ,another individual error this time from our keeper Liam Still who gifted the opposition a goal when he tried catch a high ball from under his cross bar but dropped it into the path of a Cromer forward who slammed the ball into his unguarded net. This mistake took the stuffing out of our lads and Cromer then went on to register twice more with us looking a beaten side. Final result Cromer 5 our lads 1.
On reflection this was always going to be the acid test for our young and much changing reserve side. Cromer are an experienced side who know how to play but also have a very strong physical presence and are not afraid to put their foot in when the need occurs. I definitely think this was the major difference between the sides as our young and rather slightly built players found it difficult at times to retain the ball and constantly giving possession away only invites pressure on yourself. Some half decent performances amonst some rather low key ones in the game ,particularly Jordan Southgate before he got injured who looked as good as anyone on the pitch with his tackling and ball distribution and once again Craig Terrington defended resolutely and attacked at every opportunity but probably our best player yesterday was young centre half Ali Durrant who defended bravely and won nearly every header that he went for. Great reward for Ali, as he is another great lad who just gets on with his football and tries to do everything the management ask of him and is definitely improving season by season.
So onto Spixworth away next week. Lets hope we can get back to winning ways and get on track for a top half finish this season-In my opinion anything less would be a disappointment
