Late Goal Keeps Boys in Title Chase

Saturday 16th April

vs. Camlyn Rangers 2-2

Team: Ciarán B; Elliot, Joe, Stephen (capt.), Matty; Danny, Josh, Caleb, Jacob, Adam; Seamus. Sub: Ciarán S, Tom.

A game of two halves may well be a cliché but after this Jekyll and Hyde display the boys managed to rescue a point.

By their own high standards, they were poor in the first half. Perhaps it can be blamed on the early kick off, but the midfield hardly won a challenge and far too often they were guilty of waiting for their opponents to take the first touch or turning their back on the ball. The passing, so good on Monday, was all over the place.

Elliot at least started brightly at the back, with a couple of good cross-field balls going forward and some diligent defending, and Ciarán B had to be alert to some long range efforts. Matty was keeping up Monday’s form and Seamus was working hard up front but he was feeding on crumbs, although Adam did set him away in the 6^th minute to force a save from the keeper.

They went a goal down in the 12^th minute as a run down the right wing was unchallenged. A good cross was met first time to leave Ciarán B with no chance. Three minutes later and the lead had been doubled after a mistake on the edge of the box left the forward with a run on goal.

Changes were needed and Tom came on for Danny, with Stephen pushed forward into midfield. He was straight into the action winning the ball but his team mates were slow to respond to his pace.

In the 21^st minute Ciarán B was on hand again, scrambling in the dust to collect the ball, although the referee had blown for offside. As the half closed, the boys could only be grateful that they weren’t more than two behind.

Ciarán S replaced Jacob at half time, with Josh dropping back into defence and Joe going to the right wing. After the hairdryer treatment from Ian, they went out in the second half and finally started to play some football.

Two minutes in, Adam and Ciarán S linked up to force the Camlyn defence back. They were now boxing their opponents in as they took advantage of some weak goal kicks. Adam was seeing a lot more of the ball and using it to good effect. Stephen was continuing to shine in midfield and his neat ball from the left was cleverly nodded on by Joe into space but the defender came across to clear.

The defence still had to be alert to any breaks from Camlyn and Matty covered neatly in the 40^th minute. He was also playing well at left back, cleaning up any stray balls that the midfield missed and his throw-ins down the line were constantly setting up forward moves.

They were getting closer to the goal and in the 41^st minute an excellent ball back across the goal from Ciarán S was just beyond Seamus. They finally made the breakthrough a minute later as a throw-in from Josh was touched on by Adam who rounded the defender to coolly slot it home.

All the good work nearly came to nothing in the 45^th minute as Ciarán B was forced to make a save as the Camlyn forward broke free and he was on hand in the 49^th minute to come out and punch the ball off the forward’s head, with Tom doing the cleaning up.

Danny came on for Caleb for the last 5 minutes as the boys pressed forward. Adam lifted a ball over the defence but nobody could get onto the end of it and, with time running out, Ian’s last throw of the dice was to sacrifice a defender, replacing Tom with Jacob. The move worked as, in the 54^th minute, Ciarán S combined with Joe to set up Stephen who arced it over the keeper’s head and into the net. Although the boys pushed on looking for a winner, it was asking too much and the game finished honours even.

Perhaps the best thing to do is to chalk this one down to experience. As bad as they were in the first half, the boys deserve great credit for playing - not battling - their way back into the game in the second. Hopefully the midfield can get back to the sort of play we have come to expect, with incisive passing rather than allowing the opponents to dictate the game. With Silcox Villa next up they can look to get back to winning ways on Monday. That just leaves TMS – at their best, the boys can record a famous victory. Only thing is, the match is another 9am kick off: surely they’ll be up early for that one!

No debate on Man of the Match – Stephen takes the medal for finally putting some steel into the midfield and was worthy of the award before his goal. Hats off to Ian for making the change, too – even if it leaves him with a tactical quandary for next time!