It is becoming an all too familiar story, as once again the Accies lost because of a poor first half performance that left them with too much to do in the second forty five. The situation wasn’t helped by farcical scenes that saw us start with 9 players as the referee got the game underway whilst Blakey and Harry were still pulling up their socks on the side-line. For once it seems it wasn’t H’s fault they were so late, but even though Lee wisely chose not to name his new born after Aveley’s number 8 it still feels ironic that they seem to both have issues with punctuality.
The Accies were really struggling to scrape a team together for this game, and to avoid Eye-Ball risking injury with only two weeks until the half marathon, we were indebted to an old friend who made the short walk from his back garden to help us out. To be fair having attended more training sessions than a lot of our players he’s earned his place!
Even the introduction of two additional players didn’t have a positive impact on what was a dire first half. Aveley simply weren’t a team, and in fact such was the dominance of our young opponents that I had to double check that Stifford only had 10 outfield players on the pitch. They outnumbered us in every area of the pitch and worked together much like the particles of a solid, whilst the gaseous individuals in blue were randomly dispersed far and wide (a little bit of science for you there). We were sloppy in possession and couldn’t seemed to get to grips with the strong wind at our backs, as Liam was expect to perform the thankless task of chasing over hit-and-hope long balls. It was Liam’s individual perseverance that created our only real opportunity of the half, as he chased the ball to the bye-line and hit the crossbar with a rasping drive from a tight angle.
By the time Liam had created this chance we were already 2-0 down and contemplating finishing the day with no win in 7. Since Harry made the switch to centre mid about 3 seasons ago he has been one of the first names on the team sheet and so often the ticking heartbeat of the side. However, by his own admission his influence was causing serious heart palpitations, with cardiac arrest appearing to be about to strike at any moment. His late arrival can only partly be blamed, as his pre-match preparation had left him well below his usual optimum level. When things couldn’t seem to get any worse an attempt to pass the ball back to Lewis from 40 yards turned into a perfect through ball, which the Stifford striker was all too happy to accept: 0-1.
It wasn’t long until the deficit was doubled, when the Accies failed to prevent and subsequently clear a cross, and the Stifford player got a bit of luck as his scuffed attempt looped wide of Lewis and into the corner of the net: 0-2.
This second goal should really have woken us up, but we just seemed to get more dishevelled and disorganised; to the point where Lewis even had to temporarily fill in at right back to clear the ball to safety.
Apart from Liam’s tireless running, the only other shining light was Craig, who did his best bring some calmness and control to proceedings, but too often was given no options or support when in possession. Terry also showed some positive intent, but having beaten three or four players, could only skew his shot well wide as he fell off balance.
If the first half had been as dark and dismal as it gets, it was a relief to see the sun finally break through the clouds in the second half (metaphorically speaking) as a change in formation and attitude resulted in the Accies turning this game into a contest.
Once again moving to 3-5-2 was seen as a risky but necessary strategy, with Blakey moving up to anchor the midfield, C. moving from the wing into the back three (apparently for a breather) and James moving into a more advanced position. This allowed Craig to move forward and provide more of a link between the midfield and Liam.
We really had nothing to lose now, and it showed as everyone started playing with a more relaxed and carefree attitude. It was as if Harry had been shocked back to life with a defibrillator at half time, as he was a totally different player. The space he was now creating by collecting the ball and turning his man was providing more time and space for Bobby, Terry, Craig and James to move into positions to receive it. With Blakey now creating a shield between defence and midfield we were able to break up play more quickly, and disrupt the rhythm and swagger we had allowed our opposition to establish in the first half.
This improvement was rewarded when Terry played the ball forward to Craig, who slotted a delightful ball through for Liam. Under close supervision he ran into the box on the left hand side and played the ball across the keeper. The intention may have been to find the far corner, but Terry had done brilliantly to continue his run and arrive at the back post to tap the ball in from 3 yards just to be sure: 1-2.
From being down and out, we were suddenly back in the game and up for the fight. Terry epitomised our new found desire to win the ball back, as he chased down his own over-hit touch to block the defender’s attempted clearance and deflect the ball into Liam’s path. Our skipper took an identical route to goal as before, but this time didn’t need any help as he superbly found the far bottom corner from a tight angle: 2-2.
With the imperative being attack, we were always going to be ridding our luck at the back against an opposition that was not short of pace. Fortunately they were struggling with the wind as much as we did, but Lewis still had to be alert to quickly come off his line and smoother the ball on a number of occasions. Robin, C. and Luke were also doing superbly to win the first ball on most occasions. Stifford seemed to be a little rattled by our unexpected resurgence and started to fluff their lines, no more so than when their man was clean through but could only lift the bouncing ball into Lewis’s arms.
It took a fine finish to burst our bubble, but it was no more than we deserved for once again being guilty of not clearing our lines. C.’s intial covering tackle was superb, but then rather than boot the ball away in any direction, more than on player tried and failed to clear the ball up the pitch. The end result was gifting the ball to a man on the edge of the box, who bent it into the right corner: 2-3.
There was still plenty of time to get back into the game, but the lack of intensity suggests a worrying sign that not winning games is starting to become a bit of a habit, and something we are comfortable with. The way the Accies are playing at the moment won’t be helping, as we are starting games so badly that we’re just happy to be able to restore a bit of pride, and say we won the second half. We can be pleased with how we played in the second half, but we also need to recognise that we are gifting points to teams who we are showing we are more than capable of beating. We’ll be playing Stifford again in a couple of weeks, so let’s make sure we dish out some revenge and get them back below us in the table.
MoTM had to go to Liam (although there was some votes for Blakey and even big C.) as his attitude and effort was second to none, and was deserving of more than one goal and one assist. There is the added bonus that this moves him above Lee in the goal scoring chart. DoTD went to Harry, as although Blakey (or Blakey’s missus to be more precise) was more culpable for them being so late, at least Al seemed to know where he was in the first half.
Eye-Ball
Goal scoring chart
