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This game started very competitively, Moorside have some very good midfielders but are susceptible to pace and pressure at the back. We played well in the first half, Will terrorising their defence again and we gained our rewards from a Sam shot and an own goal from a dangerous cross to go in 2-0 at the break.
I’m not sure what happened in the second half, certainly Moorside were up for it and had a plan down our right, possibly the boys thought that Moorside’s heads would go down as happened on Tuesday and it would be a cake walk, but what I do know is we came back out terribly. We could not pass to a sky blue shirt and we’re hit with wave upon wave of attacks. Our heads were down even whilst we were still winning and for a change I could hear the team, unfortunately it was moaning and bickering instead of encouragement. We really need one or two of the boys to step up and grab hold of games when things get tough but we are really struggling for leadership. The defence were moaning at the forwards to get back and help them and it’s definitely something they need to work on, however, the defence was playing so deep that we were really stretching the game out. There were miles between our midfield and the attack. If the forwards were attacking then they had all that distance to get back again, not even Will can do that. Moorside were capitalising on that space, playing between our lines and it wasn’t a surprise when they equalised. What was a bit of a surprise was us almost immediately taking the lead again through Ryan O but it didn’t last too long and we soon found ourselves 4-3 down. Peter had somewhat of a checkered game, he managed to save a penalty but it unfortunately bounced out to the taker for him to tap it back in and his kicking, which has been really improving over the last few weeks, was all over the place, another reason why we were struggling to keep the ball further up the pitch.
According to my watch time was up but I think the ref forgot we only play 40 minutes, not 45 and was adding time for goals and subs. We threw everything forward and not only had time for Ronan to narrowly miss one chance but to bag the equaliser and then for both teams to have another attack. Eventually he did blow to leave it all square at the end. I don’t know whether to be disappointed about the lack of fight and belief we showed at the start of the second half, or proud of the resilience to keep on going and get the equaliser at the death. There’s certainly lots to work on but it’s all mental now. Each individual played well but discipline and tactics are much more important now. For example, and I’m not singling him out for criticism, Jamie knows Will can cause havoc if he can make a good ball between the centre half and fullback but is so desperate to make that pass he’s doing it when Will is miles back. We have to wait until a pass is on or make a different one. Some other passing choices further back were downright suicidal at times!
Both Ryans, Sonny, Reece and Sam all put in a good shift but I thought Milonga was worthy of the MoM. He’s always a good defender but, in the first half especially, he looked classy on the ball and distributed it very well whilst under pressure.