We had to work every inch of the way for a place in the first round proper of the FA Vase on Saturday 3rd October against March Town United.
Brantham showed why they had scored 28 goals in their eight league matches with pace in attack and caused us several problems. That said, I have never seen a team fail to convert so many positions in behind an opponent's back four into strikes on target and goals as we were guilty of on Saturday.
I could sense on our arrival that it was a massive day for our hosts and their whole club was visibly up for the occasion. The surface was a green oasis and a credit to Brantham, but the appalling pitch we were forced to warm up on and the stifling heat of the portacabin used for the visitors changing room made our pre-match preparation far from ideal.
My concerns were almost manifested within the first five minutes when the home side missed two gilt edged chances to take the lead. The first header looped over Martin Davies but wide and he tipped the second onto the post with a brilliant reflex save. Whilst there were only two changes from the side that exploded out of the blocks at Newmarket, we stuttered into life here and only gradually got to grips with their 4-3-3 formation.
The key for controlling a match at any level is retention of the ball. If you can keep possession, your formation becomes the dominant system of play and you can pose problems for the opposition. If you are good enough, they will have to adjust to cope or you should be able to run riot. The latter happened on Tuesday, the former yesterday.
By moving the ball we forced their wide players back and with Maz dropping off the front to break the lines, we created some decent movement in their half. Being critical, we didn't quite carry the cutting edge of our previous performance but credit must go to the home side for their committed and organised defending. The result was that, whilst forcing a string of corners and free kicks, clear cut chances were at a premium.The best fell to JP, from a fantastic Jack Eades cross. Instead of throwing himself at the ball for a diving header, he tried to volley the ball at waist height and failed to convert from inside the six yard box.
At half time I stressed to the players the importance of maintaining our concentration defensively and our tempo in passing the ball. My guess, especially in the warm weather and on a big pitch, was that we would need to wear down our opponents with relentless pressure by keeping the ball away from them and the goal would eventually come. I also thought the first goal was crucial. It is a lot harder to summon the energy and mental fortitude to chase a game than hold onto a goal lead. We don't come across these situations too often so it was going to prove an interesting test of our maturity and mentality.
The only details to put right defensively were to remind the wide players of their triggers to shut down their opposing full backs as they were releasing too early and allowing the ball to be played on the outside of them due to their angle of approach being too straight. This allowed their wide players to be 1v1 with our full backs too often. Secondly, in trying to compensate, our full backs were then releasing too early to get tight with their opposing wide player, allowing dangerous balls to get played between them and the centre backs.
The half panned out as expected but two frailties in our play created the biggest danger to us not achieving the right result. Firstly, after not scoring in the opening salvo, despite chances for all our front four, we became a little gung ho, allowing our hosts chances on the break. Three of these followed our attacking set plays where we overcommitted players forward and failed to recognise the player releasing from their defensive shape.
We try a similar tactic with JP (above) from our defending corners and their wide right broke to great effect, thankfully without an end product. The only strike on target was blocked by the legs of Martin Davies.
Our players also failed to sort out their most advanced midfield player/withdrawn striker, who much as Maz does for us, was able to turn, face forward and playing penetrative balls between our centre backs and full backs. With pace in both wide areas this caused us problems and Darryl Coakley in particular had an uncomfortable afternoon. We needed to cut the supply at source by getting tighter in midfield but our wide players were too high, our front players didn't help by dropping into the hole and our back four defended too deep. This allowed us to become stretched and vulnerable to counter attacks.
At the other end, our profligacy in the final third needed to be seen to be believed! We must have got wrong side of their back four or had possession inside their penalty box on about 20 occasions. However, even for the eventual winner, we had too many touches, threw too many dummies and conspired to delay our strikes on goal to such an extent that we only forced one save from the home keeper. The rest of our efforts were either blocked with recovery tackles or cleared when another unnecessary pass was made.
It can be difficult when you have too many options and too much time. We certainly complicated things to the nth degree, which led to more frustration and then more touches as we then became obsessed with being too precise. It was a good lesson to learn for the players but to score goals, regardless of the opposition, you must do things at pace in the final third in order to be incisive. On another day, Maz, JP and Jack Eades would have filled their boots.
Adam Marriott's 95th minute tap in was a relief as the last thing we needed with an FA Youth Cup tie on Thursday was a replay on Wednesday! We currently have Liam Hughes, Chris Tonks and Jonathan Thorpe out of action, plus Jack Igglesden and Josh England trying to catch up with their fitness following long term injuries, so two games in two days would not have been what the doctor ordered!
Team:
Davies, McAuley, Coakley, Carr, Hudson, Allen, Eades (Bennett 80), Berry, Bailey (Igglesden 65 (Bevan 90)), Marriott, Patrick
