|
Date |
Sunday 22nd September 2013 |
|
Match |
West Wratting Youth v Royston Town Youth |
|
Competition |
Cambridge & Colts District League U16 League Cup Group Stage |
|
Result |
Won 0-1 |
|
Royston Scorers |
Rhys |
We went to
We had played Wratting three weeks ago and beat them 9-0 in a friendly so we had to make sure we did not get complacent coming into this and treat this as if we only had to turn up to win. We had thirteen to chose from so still three key players missing but it was good to welcome back Richard from his injury although he would not start the game. Keep it simple was the message and start the game at a good tempo and we stressed how important an early goal was but that if it did not come we had to stay patient. First signs in the warm up were not good if I’m honest to many players did not seem switched on.
We kicked off and set the tone for the day a bad touch and Wratting were gifted possession and that in many ways summed up our overall performance. Its was obvious from the start Wratting were up for this game they were quicker to the ball were more hungry in the tackle and passed the ball better than us. Wratting had the first chance of the game and we had Robbie in goal to thank after a great double save. We always looked dangerous when we got the ball out in wide areas and the delivery from those areas from Jack O and James R were superb but we did not react or gamble in there box. We forced a couple of corners which we looked dangerous from but credit to Wratting they were defending in numbers and were determine to win the second ball. Eamon was having his hands full with their wide player who was their outlet but overall coped well, a disappointing first half for us came to an end with the scores level.
We had strong words at half time mainly around our lack of focus our sloppiness and the fact certain players were not showing the commitment or effort to win back the ball which I expect, our decision making at times was poor to say the least. Wratting had their tails up now and we were involved in a real cup tie so we would have to up our game all round if we wanted to win this one.
We did start competing more in the second half and the effort was certainly better. Their keeper was called into action more but they still looked dangerous on the break although overall our defending was good although we got ourselves in trouble through poor decision making. Richard and Ross came on to add more energy but this was not an easy game to come on to. What turned out to be the winning goal came with twenty minutes left and was completely out of context to our performance. Alasdair found Rhys and from twenty yards out Rhys took the ball on his chest before volleying home in the top corner for a wonderful piece of skill and an excellent finish. Wratting did not drop their heads and looked for an equaliser mainly looking to catch us with the long ball which our back four coped well with until the last ten minutes when we started to panic under the high ball. Sam was doing a good job in holding the ball up and we did crate chances but failed to take them. A big shout for a penalty was waved away from the ref when Matt looked to have pulled back their centre forward but the ref waved play on and soon after the final whistle went and we won a game I have to be honest with I did not feel we deserved.
I was disappointed with that performance it started from the warm up and we never recovered, I think to many boys thought we only had to turn up to day and that all the hard work we are renowned for was not needed. I know they will not make that same mistake again. There were some positives from us but not as many as I would have liked. We must give credit to Wratting their attitude was superb. Our league campaign starts this week and we must make sure we prepare correctly and turn up with the right attitude and that starts at training Monday.
