Post
by AwayDayYeltz » 06 Oct 2020, 22:15
I've been critical of the team after a couple of games this season, especially after the Barton draw, but the reason I've been critical is because I know how well we are capable of playing. That second half performance was sensational.
There's not one team in this league that can compete with us, when we play like that. I'd also suggest there's a number of sides, in the league above, that would have struggled to keep the score respectable.
Yates, Cobourne, Holmes and Molly are frightening offensively. They create chances galore. I feel Molly's contributions are going unnoticed, slightly, in the shadow of Holmes and Cobourne's form. But, he offers something different, and his performances have impressed me this season.
I'm a massive Bowen fan, but I can't see how he'd get into the side at the moment, with the impressive Manning playing so well. Manning probably gets my vote for man of the match, but I could easily award that to Ali, Yates or even Holmes. Another lovely finish, for his goal, too.
I was pleased with the starting XI. We finally saw players playing in positions they're comfortable with. In particular Ali and Forsyth in a more advanced midfield role, with a natural centre half, Parsons, back in defence. I believe the performance rewarded us for playing square pegs, in square holes. It was good to see.
We played well enough in the first half, but we lacked the clinical edge we later showed in the second half, and should've gone in 1-1, after gifting North Leigh a sitter, just before half time, through sloppy defending. This is my only moan of the evening, a combination of wasting a lot of good chances, and switching off defensively, could have meant going into half time with the scoreline unfairly reflecting how we had played. It's an issue that has plagued us already this season, and is something we need to improve upon. But, I guess that's being very critical, in what was otherwise a very good all round performance.
Finally, a quick note to thank the club for how they have handled the ridiculous COVID regulations. It was great to see Karen, Dom and Karen's partner, walking around the ground, and asking fans for drinks, to comply with the 'table service' regulations. That's some top effort, and no doubt, a thankless task, that a lot of non-league clubs wouldn't bother with (see Hednesford).
Also, the way the social distancing was handled in the Shed, was well done too. I'm frustrated at how ridiculous football is now, in these weird times, but the club have done as well as they can, given the bad hand they've been dealt with.
Ps. Wantage won tonight. Could they be potential promotion rivals?
Last edited by
AwayDayYeltz on 06 Oct 2020, 22:25, edited 3 times in total.
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