Men's 2nd Team Vs Old Silhillians 4

Old Sils 5 v 0 CoBHC 2s

First game of the season after one pre-season friendly at Tamworth and an inter club training session. We thought it was enough preparation as the team had such a successful run last season together.

For the first five to ten minutes a few of the players thought it was going to be the first points of the new season in the promoted division 9. The team moved the ball around and the midfield had long spells of possession. The CoBHC had a few breakaways with a couple of half chances. But the home team began to settle and their young players started to make telling runs down the channels. The home defence concentrated on long balls down these channels for the speedy young players to connect onto.

The visitors soon began to lose possession for long periods and struggled to string any passes together. The visiting midfield players became stretched and the home team soon began to overload both wings. This finally stretched the back three defenders of Paul, Ian and Edan. Large pockets soon appeared for Old Sils strikers to run into and score good goals. The City team was struggling to get good ball speed with accurate passes as more of the game went on. Alan in goal playing after a long time away showed no signs of being rusty, keeping City in the game, with some good saves. CoBHC went into half time 3-0 down.

The half time talk was blunt and to the point. The whole team showed signs of lethargy and lack of desire. As Stan mentioned, “the home team are not 3-0 better than us. We should be beating this team”. A few tactical comments from the group to buoy the team, with everyone confidently believing the team could turn it around.

Second half started better than the first and city won numerous short corners, putting pressure on the home team’s defenders, winning many fouls. This early pressure showed cracks in the home teams back four but unfortunately all the short corners and attacks in the “D” never tested the keeper.

The midfield performance was vastly improved and when the team put short quick passes together it looked quality hockey. Eventually though with only one substitute, fatigue eventually told. The home team got two more goals in this half, mainly from coming in on the back post. The home team’s pressure in midfield was a tough challenge for city for long periods again in this half but the visitors did challenge strongly to try and keep possession for longer spells than in the first half.

Tactical tweaks to our style of play, will improve performances but every player needs to be more confident on the ball and make accurate hard passes to link up the team and make better movement off the ball. First home game of the season next week at 1pm at Small he Heath.