Mens 3rds come second again

Match report (or is it a stream of consciousness?) from Captain Colin Ainsworth

The men’s 3s went to Golden Hill feeling positive about a match against Clifton Robinsons as we had been getting better each match so far.

After watching the end of a national league ladies game we could see how we should plan on playing. I decided that to try to keep more pressure up high on the field we would play a 3-4-3 with the hope of stopping them moving the ball out. The game started and we moved the ball around well and kept possession, moving the ball across both sides of the pitch to spread the play and move forward, but the Robbies break out was always done very quickly and pressed very hard meaning captain Colin Ainsworth was covering a lot of ground in the centre of midfield and generally pressed into a more defensive version, this stifled almost all the quick moves, however whenever they found space in the D one of their experienced players put excellent strikes on the ball to find the corners of the goal and despite us gaining more short corners Robbies were 2-0 up at half time.

The second half continued in the same vein, but with our forwards making slightly better runs to get the ball through the Robbies defence and although we continued with more of the pressure, we weren’t able to manufacture many chances, Keith Lanham hit the post, but enjoyed watching when he thought it had gone in! Thankfully he made amends from a short corner to bring the score back to 2-1, but the game then turned in Robbies favour as they broke well. They also realised that niggling at their former player Phil Toomey would prevent him from manufacturing the play he is renowned for and earning him the D*** of the day, but the two 13 year olds in the team played brilliantly, inter passing to beat defenders and getting shots off, really impressed, so Charlie C and Dan K (sponsored by Mercure Hotels Bridgwater) were the Players of the match. A couple more breaks late on completed the hattrick for their main forward and a shot picked out from mid air was met by diving keeper Nick Round in the chest, but just trickled over the line before it could be scrambled away, a 4-1 loss and although it should have been a loss for North, the score line was slightly flattering for Robbies.