The one positive at the end of another ninety minutes of woe was that it will be at least another 5000 hours before we have to even contemplate playing Stanford Wanderers again, or listening to their incessant whining. Thanks to Sharpy’s curiosity we at least got to see how they would react if someone really gave them a kick – I think hissy fit pretty much sums it up.
Once again we were completely outplayed over the 90 minutes, but it was a better performance than last week overall, with just our inability to deal with deliveries from set pieces being the major problem. With the ball over the top being our biggest concern from last week Milesy went for a tactical change; packing the centre of the park, and deploying a sweeper:
ppppppppppppppppppTy (GK)
pppppppppppppppppMilly(SW)
pppppppppppppRob (CB) Eye-Ball (CB)
ppDeano (RWB)ppppppppppppppppppppppp Scott (LWB)
ppppppppppJordan (CM) Stu (CM) (c) Jimmy (LM)
pppppppppppNathan (CF) Gollum (CF)
Subs: Sharpy, Aaron, Parker
The new formation seemed to be working OK to start with. We were definitely a lot more competitive in midfield and the route through the middle of the field was well a truly blocked. The problem is that Stanford play a very fluid formation, and simply moved their play to the flanks, where space had naturally developed. Scott and Deano worked tirelessly up and down the wings, but invariably found themselves overrun.
It was a break down the flank that led to the first goal for Stanford. Ty intercepted the initial low cross from the by-line, sending the ball high into the air. The ball wasn’t dealt with before coming back to earth and fell invitingly for a Stanford player to poke home: 0-1.
The next goal was the first of many to result from a cross or set piece; whilst Eye-Ball stayed with his man he was beaten to the ball at the edge of the six yard box and the Stanford player’s well directed header was pretty much unstoppable: 0-2.
The third and fourth goals followed in quick succession; both as a result of exploiting the space on the left hand flank. First the ball was played across the middle, and into the path of the on-rushing fullback, who was tracked all the way by Scott, but could not be prevented from crossing low to the back post to be bravely met the onrushing Stanford player. Next the same player who had supplied the cross found himself unmarked in the box and finished well across Ty: 0-4.
We obviously hadn’t adapted as well to the new formation as Milesy had hoped, and so reverted back to the more familiar 4-4-2. This seemed to help stabilise the team, and we even managed to pull a goal back before half-time when Robbie beat Scott, Deano and all the opposition to the loose ball, following a Nathan long throw, to poke home his second goal of the season: 1-4.
The half time team talk was pretty straight forward: get your heads up and keep trying to play football. Sharpy came on for the second half for what will be his last appearance for this season at least. He is finally going in for the op that he has been putting off for some time, and he showed glimpses of why he will be sorely missed. His desire for the ball, and determination to win the ball and bring others into play made us a much more dangerous threat. Best of luck from all at The Oaks Sharpy, and hopefully you’ll make a speedy recovery.
Despite improving in most areas we still managed to concede a further three goals in the second half. Again it was set pieces and deliveries into the box that caused the problem; one goal was exceptionally unlucky, and Milly’s attempt to clear a cross resulted in the ball looping off the outside of his boot and into the back of the net. The pattern continued as a Stanford player found himself unmarked at the front post and headed home with ease from a corner.
It is not unusual for memories of frightening or unpleasant events to be repressed as part of the coping mechanism. The fact that I can’t remember the 7th goal is evidence of this. My guess is that it came as a result of another corner.
Just like last week we had a perfectly good goal ruled offside. This time it was Deano who ran from deep to collect the ball and finish with aplomb. Unfortunately, the linesman didn’t think he had run from deep enough and raised his flag. Again, just like last week Nathan scored a goal that was far above the standard of the rest of our performance. When the ball fell to him in the box, he fired an unstoppable shot past the helpless goal keeper. In doing so Nathan became The Oaks top scorer for the season with nine goals, overtaking Sharpy. With Sharpy now out of action we are going to be relying on Nathan much more heavily for goals over the rest of the season. When you consider that between the two of them they have scored over half of our goals, and the next closest active scorers are Deano and Rob with two a piece, you have some idea of the problem: 2-7.
Let’s hope this is the end of a unhappy period in The Oaks season, and lets try extra hard to restore some pride over the upcoming games.
Eye-Ball
Next game: Sunday 21st February, away @ Belhus Park
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