Big defeat as boys crumble

Saturday 22^nd March

vs Marina Sands Lions 2-6

Team: Ciarán; Elliot H, Josh, Sam, Ben; Louis, Dylan, Jacob, Adam; Caleb; Joe. Subs: Cormac, Elliot R, Ollie, Tom.

This was a 45 minute horror show as, not for the first time, the boys capitulated against a team who battled  – better that all involved remember what went wrong than to take a ‘forget about this one’ approach.

It all started so brightly, as they took the lead in the third minute. From the kick off Louis found plenty of space in the box and Caleb’s shot flew off the outside of his boot. Adam then deftly turned his marker, passed to Jacob whose ball took out the whole of the defence and Joe rifled them into the lead.

A wild shot from Adam and a Joe free kick showed that they could not master the strong wind at their backs and there were portents of things to come as, with the tireless exception of Jacob, the midfield, who might have looked good with the ball, were non-existent without it.

Ciarán was left scrambling in the dirt after he failed to take a long range shot cleanly, not helped by the ground, as the Tigers equalised in the 9^th minute. From that one goalkeeping error, the team crumbled and they were 3-1 down by the quarter hour after a crazy scramble of blue shirts failed to first cut out a corner and then hack it clear and then Ben froze on the back post to allow the Tigers a third after a poor touch from Josh left him exposed.

Both Ben and Josh recovered their composure to win important challenges and, despite Joe seeing a shot comfortably pushed over the bar and Caleb again finding the outside of his boot late on, they never looked in control of the game. The Tigers were winning the battles in midfield but were no threat: Ciarán had little to do after the third goal.

Ollie and Tom replaced Dylan, out of sorts in the centre, and Ben for the second half and when Adam flew down the left to force a good save from the Tigers’ keeper soon after the break, there was promise of better things.  Ollie slalomed down the right to great effect and Joe chose to shoot from a tight angle, rather than lay the ball back. A minute later, though, the Tigers extended their lead as a corner caught the wind and flew into the top corner.

Adam was exposing the Tigers right back and from his cross in the 45^th minute, Jacob’s header was parried by the keeper and Joe tapped in the rebound to bring it back to 2-4. The game was up, though, four minutes later as Elliot H and Tom were caught out to allow a fifth, which was the trigger for Cormac and Elliot H to come on.

They looked a sorry sight for the final quarter and sounded one too as discipline fell away and the recriminations started. A late free kick gave them a chance but with nobody on the back post the opportunity went begging. Instead, it was left to an old team-mate to shimmy past half-hearted tackles in the box to set up the Tigers’ sixth goal in the last minute, the scorer on his own in front of Ciarán to prod home with his knee.

The choice for Man of the Match was as simple as it has been all season: Jacob took responsibility to sit in front of the defence, try and hold the Tigers at bay and push forward. Covering every blade of grass is not necessarily a sign of a good performance but it summed up his tireless, if at time frustrated, display. As for his team mates, they were second best all over the park and a number of them need to think hard about their own approach to the game before shouting long and loud at others.