2008-9 season is the last time we made it into the third round. It is a good chance for some of the squad players to get a game.
Just got back from The Vic... Not a great performance and a couple of rusty players and players that clearly have not played together. But a win is a win and a home tie against Narge to look forward to. One of our core problems is the physical size of the midfield and forwards - they knocked off the ball far too easily if we play it in the air, so we have to keep the ball down and when we did we played far better. Even with just under 10k in attendance, the 1881 boys made for a much better atmosphere and all credit to Dan and the others. There was a group if young lads sitting in front of us and they loved singing along and bouncing about - with a full house it will start rocking. A big "well done" to all involved.
"Patchy" is a good word to describe that performance. One or two moments of quality e.g. from Battachio but too often we gave the ball away , failed to develop from good positions, frequently conceded the initiative. We also enjoyed some luck--they hit the post and failed to take advantage of at least two rebound situations. Hardly convincing, but it is hard to gainsay 2-0. The defensive combination was of course completely new , and seemed to want to pass to each other a lot, maybe to get used to playing together. Since they kept a clean sheet you might say they were effective, but see above under "luck" . The midfield was OK, but as mentioned are physically small , and if their neat passing game goes astray (as it often did) they lose a lot of their threat. Up front we looked mobile but not very dangerous. Bond and Battachio (very energetic) were the main plus points from this--oh, and the result. I hope we are not using up our season's luck in the first few games.
Thats great to hear. Thanks Frenchie. It was NOT a free kick. There was daylight between Belkalems foot and the attacker! Thanks WY. Im glad you enjoyed it. It was great fun for us tonight, even with such a small crowd.
Ain't that right! A shocking decision. Still, he was better than most. Not too keen on the asso with the flag on the Rous touchline though!
When the teams walked out at the start it was hard to tell who were the mascots and who were our midfield & strikers! Only Pudil + the back 3 & keeper were of a reasonable height! It has to be a concern that our keeper was MoM again - 2 games in a row. To say our goal led a charmed life is an understatement. Connor Smith had a good game and will challenge for a starting place if we don't buy/loan in another defensive midfielder. That aside, the team ran their socks off but tbh created only a few chances compared to Bournemouth who must be feeling very hard done by. Even our excellent break and class finish for the second goal came about where there was a lot of pressure inside our area and 2 possible penalty appeals for hand ball before Ekstrand made the clearance. Could I just add about Bond's distribution - people seem to be moaning a bit about this (well to me anyway) - but what choices was he given? Bournemouth were pressing, the defence wasn't moving much to create space and offer themselves as an option so from hand and foot he had to kick which was not fruitful as you have our guys giving away nearly a foot in height. In the second half he must have been told/suggested to kick to the wings which he did but again with limited success. This is not his fault but the set-up of the team and the lack of options given to him by his team mates.
I thought the youngster from Reading might get on to help add some sort of physical presence up front as poor Acuna and FF whilst they tried hard and actually closed down a lot had no chance in the air. Battocchio got another goal of the season contender in early this time. Good to see we've got 2 goalie we can really rely on if called upon albeit Bond kicking was suspect at times. Connor Smith did well and the back 3 got better as time went on (maybe after Brown went off) A fringe side with players starting together for the first time and it showed but got the job done.
