Men's 2nd Team Vs Bridgnorth 5

Bridgnorth 5s 0 V 0 CoBHC 2s

The City of Birmingham Second Team had a long hour’s drive to Bridgnorth, this combined by the 12:30 start meant they were missing a few players. So it was unfortunate that the team would start with only ten men. A big, big, thank you to all the drivers for this game, getting the whole team to the venue safely.

The CoBHC team, although concerned about being a man, down were committed to putting in a concerted effort to give the 16 home team squad a game. The game plan was to keep the formation tight and compact in the middle of the pitch, with lots of quick short passes, not trying to over stretch.

The game started very positively for the visitors, for a solid ten minutes they played quick short balls through the middle of a pitch keeping possession and keeping the home team in their own half. Ben was orchestrating the style of play getting everyone involved in the moves. The back three of Edan, Paul and Jahed pushed high. When the ball was lost, they quickly turned over possession to begin again at attacking Bridgnorth. A few half chances fell to Anthony and Sean in this period but the keeper cleared the shots.

Eventually the home team settled and the game became more even with the visitors still deciding to keep the high press. This tactic exposed a few one on ones with Jack in goal but he impressed driving off his line, closing the angles and getting good clearances and a few saves when they got shots off. In the final ten minutes of the half, the home team finally gained advantage in the middle and pushed hard, pressing high. Fatigue from the hard working visiting 10 men meant players dropped deep to keep it nil nil into the second half.

Pleased with the team performance the tactics altered for the second half. Everyone was putting in so much effort that tired legs was going to be an issue as the game wore on, so rotation of the back line was decided upon. Ben switched with Edan, Anthony switched with Jahed and Matt just dropped to support the defence. This irrational rotation and continually switching worked surprising well. Every player knew their job and no spaces appeared for the home team to capitalise on. Although the home team had the majority of possession in the second half the visitors had a few chances to break away through the crowded midfield and attack the “D”.

With twenty minutes to play the home team won a string of about twelve short corners which needed defending with great discipline. Jahed and Edan closed the No1 hitter every time shutting out his shot. The defending was so strong that  the home team switched to a different tactic but again the visitors repelled the attacks. A few injuries ensued in this period but everyone managed to play on.

Throughout the game it was the midfield powerhouse of Ben, Parameth, Kamran and Sean who released the pressure for the defence by winning tackles, breaking up the home teams play and finally getting good attacks at the defence.

Bridgnorth had  a mix of veteran players at the back with the youth being the legs in midfield and attack. The experienced home defence showed kept many of the CoBHC attacks at bay with great tackles and clever interceptions. The visitors got into good crossing positions but time and time again the wise old heads cut out the powerful crosses. Ben and Sean made good drives into the “D” trying to get shots away but again the defence stood firm.

In the final minutes Parameth had a second wind and managed to pick the ball up in the middle of the pitch and dribbling zig zag style passed five opponents up the pitch, cutting through them like a knife through butter. This gave the defence a respite and shocked the home team into defending deeper. In this period (due to fatigue) the visitors were limited to counterattacks only, which they performed really well considering the work load the whole team were put through. The final chance of the game fell to the visitors, Sean managed a great dribble through a static defender he drove towards goal and passed to Anthony on the keeper. As he was fouled, he managed to slip the ball to Kamran with an open goal at his mercy. Unfortunately, he slipped as he powered his shot and it skidded just wide. If it had gone it, I would have definitely classed it as a stolen victory. Jack won the Man of the Match, but every player battled in the game and showed great steel.

 A draw seemed a fair result in the end, even if we did only have ten men, because the visitors work rate and gritty performance warrantied something from the game. “A long way to go for a 0-0” some would say, but it showed a gritty determination from the Second team and every player worked hard to earn that point. In the reverse fixture we lost 3-1 so an impressive improvement all round.