Sat 6 Nov - Men's 4ths vs Lichfield 5ths

This was a much better week for the Men's 4ths. After last week's poor performance we preceded this week's game with a pep-talk on defending. Thanks, Duncan for your perspective and contribution. We immediately put this into practice and from the off we defended like a team, and on every part of the pitch, from full-backs to forwards. Lichfield found it difficult to penetrate our defences and for a while it was give and take as possession swapped and each team in turn attacked. Eventually Lichfield gained a short corner, from an unlucky foot offence in the D, which they efficiently converted. Despite this setback we continued to defend well and to attack the Lichfield defence, with plenty of tireless midfield work from Bill Anderson, Andy Najman, Callum Rhodes and Simon Downes, but at half-time the score remained 0-1 to Lichfield.

We started the second half looking for an equaliser and the give and take continued. Niall Russell, in goal, made a number of spectacular saves, but eventually Lichfield's second came from some excellent play around and in our D as we temporarily found ourselves outnumbered. Our ability to defend as a team began to deteriorate as the second half progressed, as the midfield began to tire a little, and the full backs and goalie came under more pressure, forcing Niall to make more splendid saves. Whilst our defending was starting to falter, we managed to attack the Lichfield goal more effectively, several shots narrowly missing. A third Lichfield goal came from another short corner and the final score was 0-3.

Man of the match - I thought Niall, in goal, played the best game he's ever had, he thought he was having a good game, and the rest of the team agree (is it his new pads?). It could easily have turned into a rout in the second half but Niall kept it a hard fought game, so my man of the match is Niall Russell.