Men's 2nd Team Vs Tamworth 2nds

Tamworth 2s 11 v 3;CoBHC 2s

Goal scorers:- Robin Stanley X2 and Anthony Truelove.

Tamworth this season requested a two league drop from division 7 into our level in division 9. So on paper and in the real game this was going to be a tough ask for our squad who only recently moved up from division 10.

The opposition had five subs while we had a bare eleven, on a warm late summer afternoon. The CoBHC men’s warmed up and got set for a challenging afternoon.

Within five minutes of the start a home team player drove into the ”D” past five defenders tackles and deftly slotted the first goal. Soon after the ball fell to a striker at the top a the “D” and he managed to turn and strike a powerful shot past Jack into the corner. Two early goals but the visitors tried to settle but left big spaces in the middle for the home team to charge through. The home team attacked with every turn of possession and pushed up in numbers. Jack made many saves in the half but the defence kept getting overrun, and struggled to get a control of midfield and boss the ball with confidence.  7-0 at half time.

The team at half time had to reshuffle with more attacking options to test the opposition, as in the first half they couldn’t get out of their own half.

 The adjustments made an instant impact and the home team were unsettled at the back. The first drive into their “D” lead to a cross from Jahed who found Anthony who slotted the ball to Stan who struck a powerful shot boosting the teams moral. 50/50 balls were being won by the visitors and possession edged further into CoBHC control. Soon afterwards the team won a short corner, their first of the game! A great push by Ian found Stan who twisted past a few charging defenders and his shot bobbled around a  confused keeper (expecting a rocket shot). The home team soon got two goals in reply, cancelling the early attacks by CoBHC. Jack again made some great saves but the game was much more even this half and CoBHC gave Tamworth a real pre season warm up. The visitors’ final goal was a well worked passing game around the “D”, moving the ball with speed across the width of the pitch for Noah to then cross to Sean whose shot on goal was calmly finished by Anthony (making sure it went in). Tired legs on the warm afternoon eventually led to another few goals by Tamworth by defensive errors, but the team’s turn around from the first 35 minutes was immense. Second half was a 4-3.

 Great work rate throughout the game, and a special mention to Ben who ran “his socks off” trying to manage the midfield in this game.  CoBHC showed that a better coordinated team play by the team made an unimaginable difference few thought possible after the first half display.

Our first league game is next Saturday so the team had a great lesson in tactics at Tamworth and had a good pre season defensive drills training in the game too.