The scene was KP on a crisp autumnal day. The opposition was the unknown (and, if I'm honest, slightly feared) Wests. Things didn't get off to a great start when it dawned on all concerned that Tangihaere had left the nets under a pile of other muck in his shed. A quick return trip to Petone was in order, but thankfully our ref and opposition were happy to delay proceedings until we were all ready to go.
Kick off and, as discussed pre-match, we looked to defend and see what Wests had - and hit the on the break if possible. For the first time in living memory a Stallions game-plan paid dividends. Lloyd was snapping into tackles with such enthusiasm that you thought that soon it would be legs snapping. After weathering a bit of early pressure, a slide-rule pass from Panda put Rauru in the clear. He played Torres to the Wests' keeper's Valdes - rounding him with pace and confidence before tucking it home. Sadly, Wests hit back pretty sharply. A pass in behind the full-back gave their striker a chance, which he took despite the angle. We had the opportunity to regain the lead when Rauru was once again put through. This time though there was a fatal moment of hesitation which allowed their keeper to narrow the angle and push the shot away for a corner. The next Wests attack saw their striker get the ball close in, surrounded by defenders, with his back to goal. The words "I can't see it" had scarcely passed my lips when the ball flew in past my knees - 2:1. The fighting spirit of the Stallions was evident though because now it was our turn to have a spell of pressure. It culminated with a ball across to Aaron making one of his patented marauding run forward. First touch to get it under control before opening himself up beautifully to put it inside the post from 12 yards. Just when we thought we might be going into the break level, disaster struck - a slaloming run and a finish at the near post. "That was some goal" screamed the responsible party "I just dorked 6 of your players". Clearly someone was counting. At least he got the "dork" bit right. 3:2 Wests at the break.
Less said about the second half the better and, if I'm honest, it was all a bit of a blur. Wests got their 4th following a corner - a tuck-in at the back post by their self-commentating superstar, who promptly announced his hat-trick to his adoring masses. The 5th was just one of those things. A mis-kicked cross dipped and swerved, got caught in a vicious cross-wind, I was temporarily blinded by the sunlight reflecting off the referee's whistle, and the ball lodged gently inside the far post. Fate had conspired against us/me. Meanwhile, in more palatable news, a goal-kick cleared the defenders and put Rauru in - his shot was blocked, but our prima ballerina was on hand with what looked like a tasty lob over the stranded keeper. The wind was once again to blame as the ball bounced cruelly back off the wood-work. We also held our collective breaths for what we hoped would be another Panda long-range special. Sadly, it just whistled over. Wests then goth their 6th, when a man was left alone at the top of the box to have a shot. It looked like a pretty scruffy effort - but was against an even scruffier keeper, and snuck into the side-netting. Rauru then decided he'd score from near halfway, because he's like that - something for the neutrals. A lovely finish and an immediate shoe-in for Stallion moment. The scoring wasn't done though. Another Wests break, we all rushed to block a shot that never came. Instead, a square ball to a player that no-one had bothered to track to tap into an unguarded net. That was number SEVEN. We were put out of our collective misery not long after that.
Huge game from Lloyd, who completely dominated the centre of the park. Wests had to resort to going round him. Some idiot tried to go through him and quickly learned his lesson. Big props too to Spencer, who always did a great job of holding up his man, getting a timely toe in and looking up for a sensible pass. Pony to me for a reason that genuinely remains a mystery. The fact that I probably should have stopped five of the seven I let in - and got beaten from the sideline - may have had something to do with. My cheerful mood post-game was further enhanced by the first thing I heard being Rauru say "we let in some soft goals today lads". Yeah? We missed some sitters today lads. Bloody strikers!
7 comments:
the upsides from that game - we could've scored 6, and had we, they wouldn't have been so cocky, by the end and the last 20 mins wouldn't have been so bad.
i think we can learn from them. their move that did me and gus on the left hand side a few times, where the winger tucks it inside to his mate and then tear arses it down the wing to receive the return pass is an easy move, v hard to defend against, and we don't need to be messi to pull it off.
secondly, playing 5 in midfield allowed us to defend in pairs - one to close the man tightly, and one to pick up the scraps. it worked well; requires some fitness to maintain it and then support the strikeer quickly, but i think it might be worth it?
ultimately, its just down to good supporting of each other, and that's what we did well in the first half but dropped as we tired later on saturday.
If I was done on the left had side I'd better be getting fantasy points! I did have a quiet game, you would have hardly known I was even on the park!
Yeah, you were crap Gus. Graham, however, was not. Nice one Tom, welcome to the comments suggestion. Good points made. Sounds like practices might be required!
And good work paul on the match report - these really are good, we should keep them going. Loved the distracted by light glistening off the referee's whistle.
whoops, sorry, got my Gs mixed up rushing this email before work!
Great defensive game in the first half. 5 in the midfield did work well and should definately be used again.
Agree with Tom about the move down the sideline where the winger moves after passing to recieve the pass back. Apart from the consecutive 5+ passes that led up to Rauru's second goal there wasn't alot of passing happening. Players need to be prepared to move into space after passing the ball to give the reciever an option.
Also another piece of feedback - it got a bit messy when subs were made, so might need to do some quick reshuffling of players if, for example, a defender subs on and is replaced by an attacker.
A funny old game guys. We were soundly beaten but I think we can take a lot of positives out of the game.
I agree that the formation worked well. For the majority of the game we defended really well but against a team like Wests if you switch off for a second or make a slight mistake you get punished, which is what happened.
I thought our defence from when they had the ball was very good also. Not many teams will be able to move the ball like they did from the back. If we defend like we did against other teams we'll pick up on their mistakes and hopefully be able to punish them. I thought Panda and Jules played well in the hole as the '5th midfielder' and with Gus and/or Paddy coming back in they'll be able to fill that role well too. I think we stick with it for a bit more but we probably need to adapt for each game as it comes. Who's got the scouting report on Nth Wgtn with video analysis?
Our wide backs got done by their tactics of the wide mids playing it into the main striker then tearing off down the wing to get the return pass. Like Tom says, bloody hard to defend against, especially if their wide players are fast. The key is for our wide defenders to take off and track their players and not wait for the pass to come back to them. Spencer was a prime example where he would just track the runner and when their winger got the ball Spencer was able to hold them up or get a foot in.
Fully agree with the shit misses Paul. I'll hold my hand up and say if I had taken them the outcome could have been very different. Well done midfield for the great passes. Don't remember the last time that I had this many opportunities to score. We're creating more chances than ever. It'll click soon and we'll dominate (says the Liverpool supporter).
Can't wait for this week.
That should have said that the score suggested that we were soundly beaten, but I actually don't think we were. We were in that game and I fully believe that next time we'll be able to get a result.
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