Pembury Sunday Reserves 4 V 4 Ramsey
We got precisely what we expected at Woodside on Sunday a competitive, often fiery, encounter between two well matched sides with genuine aspirations for a top two finish.
We made a great start, played some nice flowing football and took the lead on 5 minutes when Wylesy won the ball in midfield advanced well and played the ball to Pav whose cross found Kevin Smith in the box and he finished clinically in to the bottom corner. For the next 10 minutes we continued to dominate and played very well without reward. Strangely it was an act of aggression from us that changed the game. A strong tackle, unfortunately from behind, from Shawn took out their forward midway in our half and led to a melee around the incident. This had two effects, firstly it served to arouse Ramsey out of their slumber and secondly we lost some concentration that hitherto had been very good. After calm had been restored the free kick was launched into the box and indecisiveness from us in dealing with it allowed them to head home. With that the superiority that we had held evaporated and the remainder of the half was fairly even with both sides standing strong in midfield and looking a threat when going forward.
At half time we were positive believing we were the better side technically, pleased with how we had stood up to the aggression but noting that we had to retain our discipline and concentration as we knew Ramsey when fired up and on their game were a handful. Unfortunately with these words still ringing in their ears we were caught cold from the restart and fell 2-1 behind. What was pleasing from then on was the character and belief shown by the team. It would have been easy at that point to buckle and be muscled out of the game but we werenÕt and we gradually played our way back into it and were rewarded on 65 minutes when Wylesy got his head to a cross and flicked the ball over their keeper into the top corner. Two minutes later we took the lead when Kevin squared the ball to Matt R-T whose shot from inside the box went under the keepers arms and into the net. The frustration appeared to get to Ramsey and one of their forward was then sent off for voicing it at the referee too often. The reduction in numbers certainly lifted Ramsey and they came at us quite strongly. We were though dealing with it well when Joe Campbell unfortunately slipped (I must admit I laughed when it happened to John Terry the day before) when able to clear leaving a Ramsey player clear and free to equalise. Shortly after poor defending of a long ball Š we must at all times get a head to these and not allow them to bounce Š meant they were able to again out muscle the defence and bundle the ball home leaving us behind with not too long remaining. Credit again to the boys as they upped the tempo and pushed on in an attempt to salvage something and with seconds remaining Kevin again put Matt away who finished very well by coolly chipping the keeper as he advanced down on him.
On reflection probably a fair result with both sides probably feeling they had won the game then lost it. Although we didnÕt win there were a lot of positives. The character of all 14 was superb Š you never gave up, stood up to the fight and showed great determination. The central midfield pairing of Shawn and Wylesy showed why they were picked Š they took to the battle head on, rarely lost a challenge and had the ability to play good football when the ball was won. Matt and Kevin up front continued to show a great understanding of each others play and scored another 3 goals between them. The enigma was the defence, individually they were fine but collectively, as a defence is, they were again punished by either an error (this week letting the ball bounce instead of heading it), or an accident (a slip) or a goal going in whenever they lost concentration. Accidents are unfortunate and you canÕt legislate for them but if we can learn something from this is the fact that we must concentrate for 90 minutes, we did say that you wouldnÕt get away with it like the previous week, and that there some basic aspects of defending that we must get right and not letting the ball bounce into dangerous areas is the homework for this week.
The next two weeks see us continue our quest in the cups where we have good opportunities to do well particularly if we can match this weeks positives and progress in the areas where we need to improve.
Team:
S.Balcombe
T.Lowe
J.Roxborough
O.Bryant
J. Campbell
P.Poliski
S.Bent
M.Wyles
R.Curd
M. Rice-Tucker
K.Smith
Subs
O.White (for Poliski)
N.Forward (for Curd)
T.Ellis (dnp)
