Lichfield Enots Vikings vs Gresley Rovers
Lichfield Enots 2 - 0 Gresley Rovers
Team: Ian Parker, Jack Moylan, Danny Gee, Kyle Jones, Carl Wymark, Matt Grice, Josh Gregory, Paul Morton, Chris Smith, Rich Hanslow, Dean Acton
Subs: Stu Haywood, Sam Worth, Todd Foster, Luke Taylor, Joe Tomlin
We were away to Lichfield Enots, and we knew that they were a decent side,because they beat us 4-1 in the cup a couple of weeks ago. Martin and myself decided to start with Ian Parker in goal, due to his recent good form, and we opted to play Dean Acton up front with Rich Hanslow.
I feel that our performances recently have shown good improvements, so we wanted to keep the team virtually unchanged, however we were without both Andy Elliot and Alex Peplow through injury. We were boosted by the fact we had our new signing of Josh Gregory and also we had Rich Hanslow back with us.
In ideal football conditions the game got underway, and as both teams settled in the early stages, we matched them. With only 7 minutes gone Chris Smith was caught in an ill timed challenge(and although I honestly think it was not
malicious) I think that with the ref being lenient it signalled worse things to come!!
On about the 15 minute mark there was another late tackle and our player reacted, and what followed was quite obscene, because there was a 10 our 11 player free for all. At one stage there were 2 or 3 Enot players grabbing our player round the throat, and as things calmed down our player was cautioned yet none of theirs??. We then let this distract us from our game, which we shouldn't, however I think the ref played his part in the whole
situation. Although disappointed, I can sympathise with some of our lads, because it's these situations that you feel the ref should have some control in things. We again got another player booked, when he complained about being pushed in his face after a tackle he won fairly.
With all the disruptions, it played into Enots hands; we lost our concentration and our shape. Matt Grice was tackled in their box (it was too far to see what caused the reaction) but their defender tried to headbutt
him and then grabbed him with both hands. So the ref true to form, booked both of them. With about 8 minutes to half time Enots took a corner, and despite our best attempts to clear, they scored.
At half time Martin and me went about our team talk about not reacting to the verbal intimidation, as this was going to be our downfall if we did.
Second half got underway, and we started to pressurise Enots who (as you'd expect because of their ages) were soon tiring. We looked a lot better, we'd brought on Sam Worth and soon after Luke Taylor, and we got into our
stride. We were doing what we'd asked of you at half time, and that was to let our football do the talking.
Their keeper (as the time we played them before) was proving very hard to beat, and he was called upon several times to make good saves. We continued to press but again just lacked that cutting edge up front. With only 6 minutes left Enots broke from defence and made it 2-0 and that's how it stayed.
So the main thing that Martin and me hope you learned was that today Litchfield found a weakness!! This being the fact that we lost our discipline, and reacted to their "winding up" tactics. Yes the ref played his part too(both times he's reffed us we've seen a mass confrontation) in two seasons it's the only time it's happened!! We're not top of the discipline league for nothing, but today they "got to us" but they were experienced and our lack of it showed.
That apart though I think that again we played really well, and the performances are improving, but we still need to take some of the many chances that we create by playing slick neat football because as we know goals win games. We've got a good strong, young squad together with the healthy competition for positions in the team. It was pleasing to see that Josh Gregory slotted in well and looked comfortable with things, also Kyle was back to his best so things look a little brighter and ALL OF YOUR
COMMITMENT is both a credit and a pleasure to see and be part of.
MOM: Matt Grice, showed true character and versatility when he played in three different positions throughout the game and was at ease with all of them. Well done Matt
