GEOFF...2-GUN...ROSS...TOM...JARV...ELLIOT...PEEWEE(1)...MIKE...HAMISH...STEW...HARPS...ROB...POD

This week we had our penultimate home league game and on the face of it a very good opportunity to make up for last weeks result against Pirbright.
Going into the game our training was again limited by the weather conditions and there were also a few key personnel out this week. Furno who has played much of the season while requiring knee surgery decided that it was not a good idea to play this week, Jack was unavailable and Djimi was out with a foot injury.

With some regulars missing, it meant that there was an opportunity for Hamish to make his first start and there were also returns to the team for Sam, Pod and Rob Hunter.

This weeks team; Geoff, 2-Gun, Ross, Tom, Jarv, Elliot, Mike PeeWee, Hamish, Harps, Gravy. On the bench; Pod, Rob, Sam.

This weeks opposition were Guildford City Weysiders B, a team that was largely composed of that clubs youngsters with a few familiar and experienced faces thrown in to the mix. Their form lately has been poor with
3 consecutive defeats and on the face of it this really did look like an opportunity for us to get back on track.

The game started just after 2pm and Weysiders got the game going kicking into the wind and down the slight slope. We started brightly and immediately enjoyed the lions share of the possession. Being a young team, Weysiders were physically smaller than the majority of our team (except
Peewee) and we comfortably won a lot of the 50/50’s and aerial challenges and the pressure was immediately on them.

As a result of our dominance, Weysiders were pushed deep into their own half and were forced to spend long periods early on in the game defending the edge of their 18 yard box. After forcing a series of corners we scored with a good finish at the back post from PeeWee who rifled it home from close range. A bit like Sami Hyppia against Juventus.

Having gone a goal down and being forced to chase the ball Weysiders looked very dispirited and it looked like this could be a very one sided affair. We had loads of the ball and passed it round quite well in the middle of midfield, but given the ease with which we were winning the ball, we started playing like it was a training match and our pace and urgency slowed down far too much. If anything we started to get too cocky.

Despite enjoying so much possession we offered virtually nothing going forward. We must have practised getting the ball in midfield, knocking it out to the wings and loading up the box and putting in a cross a hundred times in training, but every time we go the ball we wanted to cut in and dribble across the 18 yard box where it was inevitably nicked off us and that was the end of the attack.

The Weysiders keeper looked very susceptible to anything that was on target and you felt that if we could get a few on target we would undoubtedly get either a goal or an opportunity to follow up and score from any parried clearances.

On the sideline it was extremely frustrating to watch, we would create an opportunity to shoot or release the ball to a better positioned player but we constantly made the wrong decision, giving the ball away or taking on an extra player and losing the shooting opportunity and inevitably the ball. It was made all the more frustrating on the sideline by the fact that you could sense that we looked extremely susceptible to a counter as our full backs were committed well up the pitch.

We were given our first real warning shortly before half time when a shot from distance forced an outstanding save from Geoff who had to be at full stretch to his left in order to keep us at 1-0.

Despite all our dominance and possession we went into half time, having had only a single shot on target, while it was in the main due to our weakness in front of goal, a lot of credit will go to Weysiders who defended stoutly and had grown in confidence throughout the first half.

At half time Phil gave the team a stern talking to primarily about tempo and we discussed our need to use the width of the pitch more effectively and we went out with his harsh words still ringing in our ears.

We kicked off the second half and immediately settled in to the same lacklustre tempo and four passes from kick off we sloppily gave the ball away and found ourselves defending a series of well delivered corners. We just about staved off the pressure but the game settled down into a much more even affair that was played in the midfield and both defences seemed to cancel the other out.

We desperately needed to carve out more chances or at least have a crack at goal as it appeared that anything on target would probably trouble their keeper. In midfield PeeWee and Mike were still fairly dominant and we were still able to comfortably deliver the ball to wide areas, but our build up was too slow and subsequently by the time the opportunity to cross arose there were 2 players on our wide midfielders and as in the first half, we were forced to cut in or pass the ball across the box and with Weysiders getting bodies between us and the goal the chances were gone.

We made a change 20 minutes into the second half, Elliot came off from the left and Pod who has not played or trained in weeks came on. While Pod is certainly not the sort of player to lose the ball cheaply, the fact that he has lost a yard or two of pace and lacks the delivery that Elliot is capable of, and it meant that the chance of a cross from the left hand side was becoming increasingly unlikely.

On the side, what looked like a formality 10 minutes in to the game was now turning into one where Phil seemed increasingly happy to take a 1-0 victory.
The supporters who generously give up their Saturday to encourage were also visibly frustrated and gave a couple of our own players a bit of a hard time.

With our own threat in front of goal decreasing by the minute, the Weysiders team grew in confidence and their experienced number 12 began to run the show. Despite the fact that their keeper could barely reach the half way line with his clearances, the ball was now starting to bounce and there was hesitancy throughout the team and their number 12, who was probably the second shortest player on the pitch was there to pick up the pieces and set them off on an attack.

Our lack of penetration out wide meant that Harps and Gravy were increasingly forced out wide to collect and link up the play, subsequently there was no one to aim for in the middle and rather than cross we cut in or tried to manoeuvre the ball across the box with no success.

The people who give up their time on a Saturday do so to be entertained as much as anything and when the going gets tough and its frustrating to watch sometimes you need a bit of a comedy moment. Thanks to Pod, the supporters were given their moment of entertainment with about 10 minutes on the clock.
Big Steve Sweeting lunged for a tackle, but missed, sadly for him there was little purchase on the muddy pitch resulting in him doing a very slow “splits” that looked as though it would tear every sinew on the inside of his legs.

The laughter didn’t last for long though, Weysiders had looked increasingly threatening throughout the second half and the inevitable happened I think it was from our corner that instead of playing it into the middle we took it short and tried to dribble across the box, the move was halted and the ball cleared. Unfortunately for us a defensive miscue saw their striker rush through, square it and with the rest of the team still in the Weysiders half the scores were level. 1-1.

We conceded no more than a minute later, when despite his best efforts Geoff could only force a shot back out to a Weysider striker who roofed it to take all the points. 2-1 to the visitors.

Sam ended a miserable afternoon minutes later.

Overall we were poor. They had a keeper, who it turns out was so crippled by injury he could barely walk, let alone stop a shot and yet in the second half I don’t think we even hit the target once (except for when PeeWee kicked it back to their keeper for a drop ball). In training we have practiced attacking the goal from wide areas with 2 strikers working the box on countless occasions, but I don’t think we crossed it once in the second half and when we did our strikers were very often the ones making the cross.
Defensively, we are not professionals and at this level there will always be mistakes but we should have buried this one by half time. For us the best OFC player on the pitch was Sam Ahern who was the referee, but we all lap up the glory when we win, so we all need to accept responsibility when we lose.
A lot of credit will go to Weysiders though for the result, after we scored they were literally in bits and it looked like they could have slumped to the sort of heavy defeats we have put on Lightwater and Mytchett this year, but they never gave up and simply wanted it more than we did in the second half, turned it round and got the victory they deserved.
We must move on and put the last 2 weeks behind us because next week we face Hersham who are unbeaten in every competition this year and will absolutely hammer us if we play like this again, the game is at home and it’s the cup so it would be nice to see some more great support.

A big thanks to all those that came down to support on Saturday, I am sure that you’ll all agree that despite a poor performance, seeing Pod do the splits made it all worth it.