Royston Town Crows 5 – 2 FC Comets
James (1)
George (1)
Harry (1)
Jeff (1)
Jack N (1)
A very solid performance from the boys today against a strong a disciplined FC Comets team. Following the disappointment of the previous league game against Fairlands and with almost a full squad to pick from today, we started the stronger and created a couple of good chances, so it was no surprise when we took the lead after a defensive mix up led to James coolly finishing from six yards. A second goal shortly followed from a corner kick, the ball ending up on the edge of the box and George slotting the ball into the corner. Until this point we were looking comfortable and playing some nice football through midfield. However, we soon started to over play and our passing game stopped as players started to try to run with the ball in the middle of the pitch. FC Comets started to get more dominance in the midfield as our midfield 4 lost position being too far advanced, and only some last ditch defending a good save kept our goal intact. FC Comets did pull a goal back to make it 2-1 and at that point it was looking likely that they could equalise before half time. The fact that we were able to hold out in this period was down to some more good defensive play and from a counter attack, a pin point pass from Jo found Harry and he finished well.
Half Time – Royston 3 – 1 FC Comets
It was clear from the start of the second half that FC Comets were going to push more players forward in an attempt to get back into the game, and it wasn’t long before they had a couple of decent chances which were stopped by some good defending, Ali and Wilko making last ditch tackles. Against the run of play we increased our lead, following a great pass from Will, Jeff finished well from 10 yards and the scoreline looked more comfortable. Credit to FC Comets they did not stop and as the boys started to tire (something we need to work on at training!) FC Comets had their best period of the game. They pulled a goal back from a corner and suddenly we looked vulnerable. Josh pulled off 4 fantastic saves when 1-on-1 with their attacker, Josh and Will scrambled another chance off the line and Wilko was brave on a couple of occasions when clearing a corner and free kick. It was a relief when with about 5 minutes to go we wrapped up the win with a good finish from Jack N.
Final Score – Royston 5 – 2 FC Comets
Firstly a great effort from the boys today, Well done! There were times when we were passing the ball around, especially in the first half, when we looked a great team. Their coaches stated that our pass and movement was the difference in the two sides, and this is what me and Dave have been trying to drill into the boys at training, and it is starting to have an effect on Sundays. This is why it is frustrating when we go back to trying to run the ball out of our defence and through midfield rather than letting the ball do the work. It is no coincidence that when we ‘pass and move’ our shape is good and we can dominate teams, whereas when we start to lose the ball in the middle of the pitch, we get overloaded and teams take advantage as we cannot recover quickly enough. At training on Tuesday I want to continue to work on our shape, but also to look at a couple of exercises which encourage more movement from our attackers.
A few performances that caught the eye today included our central midfield duo of Callum and Ed who I thought both had solid games. Both players kept things simple and their distribution was good. Our back 3 / 4 (George, Ali, Wilko and Will) again were solid and Josh made 4 or 5 five first class saves to keep us in the game. Man of the match went to Wilko for a very accomplished and brave performance at the heart of our defence. Well done Wilko!
