Post by stevewood on Oct 7, 2013 20:51:11 GMT
Saturday 05/10/2013:
South Manchester 5 - 4 Rovers
Starting XI
1. Tony
2. Mike
3. Little Nathan
4. Anto (c)
5. Mo
6. Garry
7. Andrea
8. Ian
9. Manu
10. Sanjay
11. Youssef
Subs (I can’t remember player numbers!)
14. Ben
15. Big Nathan
16. Idris
17. Woody
Rovers needed a good performance after the last two disappointing results had left them slipping a few places down the league into mid-table. South Manchester finished bottom of the league last year and, although history counts for nothing in football, we felt we had a good chance of getting back to winning ways here. This is despite lacking several key players including team captain Damo, White, Price and team manager Stu, who was on in-law duty!
First Half
Rovers started very brightly and took the game to South M’cr from the first whistle. Despite a fifth consecutive reshuffle in defence causing a few errors in miscommunication, the whole team looked to be working together well and solid in a return to a 4-4-2 formation. Sanjay and Manu were leading from the front, closing South M’cr down in defence and forcing them to rush playing the ball which worked well and kept Rovers predominantly the team in possession. Nathan and Mike continued from where they left off last week playing at full back on either side, with both making determined attacking runs on the overlap and getting crosses into the box which almost led to a chance for Sanjay near to goal. The opener deservedly came Rovers’ way after about twenty minutes when Manu held up the ball brilliantly inside the attacking half with options running forward on either side of him. In typical Manu-fashion it looked like he was going to take on an extra man before sliding a delicate pass through to Youssef sprinting through on the left who took it in his stride and placed his shot right into the bottom corner. A sublime assist and expertly finished.
Rovers seemed to find the confidence lacking in the previous two games and the passing was brilliant at times, especially down the right wing between Andrea and Mike. When it looked like the game was in Rovers’ control an unnecessary free-kick was given away just outside the area. The resulting effort was tame but somehow found its way through Tony’s hands and into the corner. Unfortunately it was ‘one of them things’ that happen in football, from the Premier League to grass-roots and with an hour to go there was no need to panic. However, for some reason this seemed to knock all confidence and concentration out of Rovers and South M’cr began to get into attacking positions themselves. They then took the lead just before half-time when a corner which should have been sent into Row Z was ran out of defence by Mo, who sensed a counter-attack was on, and the ball got nicked off him and sent back out wide to the corner taker who finished well from a tight angle. Despite being the better team by a country mile, Rovers trailed 2-1 at the break.
Second Half
The message from G, who was standing in for Stu for the game, was to go out and be positive and confident as we were for long periods in the first half as we were more than capable of turning around the one-goal deficit. Sadly the second half started as the first had ended and South M’cr soon found themselves 3-1 up after they were left with time and space on the edge of the box and made no mistake. It was almost visible to see Rovers’ heads drop at this point as we were making the same mistakes we had spoken about and needed to cut out. After a period of play where South M’cr kept pressing Rovers high up the pitch, the storm seemed to have been weathered when a fourth goal was conceded almost out of nowhere. Another counter-attack caught Rovers off guard and an unmarked man again found the time and space to pick a shot and left Tony with little hope of making a save. This was becoming embarrassing and the game was fast slipping away once more. G had already made one change with Big Nathan replacing Sanjay up front and made a double-substitution - Woody and Idris replacing Andrea and Garry respectively. The change brought a switch to a more attacking 3-4-3 as we now had to chase the game and win back some personal pride and respect for the club.
Almost immediately after the change Rovers conceded a penalty, with Tony admitting himself he was lucky to escape with a yellow card for bringing down their striker in the box after miscuing a back pass. The pen was put away and, at 5-1 down to South M’cr, Rovers were arguably facing their worst result for a long, long time – even including last year’s fixtures! However, the team began to show grit, determination and real character in not lying down and fighting back. It’s needless to say that with 20 minutes to go and four goals down, we should have been beaten, but we knew a quick reply would put that element of doubt into South M’cr heads. A free-kick on the edge of the box won by Idris’ run off the ball was tucked away by Manu for 5-2, with the keeper letting it slip through his fingers and getting berated by his team-mates – exactly what we wanted. Rovers worked hard to press as high up the pitch as possible and the three forwards provided the pace and width up-front needed. A mistake was forced by Manu who ran clean through on the wing, with the keeper surprisingly rushing out and missing the ball, and Manu found the net from the tightest of angles from out wide. 5-3 and now we were in the ascendancy with 10 minutes to go. Now it was all Rovers possession and when a long throw was flicked on inside the box, Idris with his back to goal acrobatically leaped and met the ball with a powerful overhead kick which flew into the net. An outstanding debut goal and a strong early contender for goal of the season. Sadly, despite the superb comeback display and character shown by the team in the last twenty minutes, there wasn’t enough time left on the clock to find the equaliser.
Full Time: South Manchester 5 – 4 Rovers
As Stu said after being informed of the match events, despite the scoreline the sheer fact we fell 5-1 down against a team like South M’cr makes a mockery of the club. However, it doesn’t tell the whole story of the game as, without even letting bias affect my judgment, there was only one team that deserved to win this game and it was not South M’cr. For two-thirds of the game Rovers dominated the play and the overall performance was first class but the game was lost due to Rovers errors yet again. Tony stood up and took blame for two of the goals but this result was not down to one player – we lost as a team. But, if we go into next week showing the same commitment, determination and sheer will as we did in the last 15-20 minutes here we get back to winning ways. Simple.
Comment
Thanks to G for taking the time out of his Saturday to fill in for Stu and manage the team.
NB
This was a couple of days ago, please correct any mistakes or omissions.
South Manchester 5 - 4 Rovers
Starting XI
1. Tony
2. Mike
3. Little Nathan
4. Anto (c)
5. Mo
6. Garry
7. Andrea
8. Ian
9. Manu
10. Sanjay
11. Youssef
Subs (I can’t remember player numbers!)
14. Ben
15. Big Nathan
16. Idris
17. Woody
Rovers needed a good performance after the last two disappointing results had left them slipping a few places down the league into mid-table. South Manchester finished bottom of the league last year and, although history counts for nothing in football, we felt we had a good chance of getting back to winning ways here. This is despite lacking several key players including team captain Damo, White, Price and team manager Stu, who was on in-law duty!
First Half
Rovers started very brightly and took the game to South M’cr from the first whistle. Despite a fifth consecutive reshuffle in defence causing a few errors in miscommunication, the whole team looked to be working together well and solid in a return to a 4-4-2 formation. Sanjay and Manu were leading from the front, closing South M’cr down in defence and forcing them to rush playing the ball which worked well and kept Rovers predominantly the team in possession. Nathan and Mike continued from where they left off last week playing at full back on either side, with both making determined attacking runs on the overlap and getting crosses into the box which almost led to a chance for Sanjay near to goal. The opener deservedly came Rovers’ way after about twenty minutes when Manu held up the ball brilliantly inside the attacking half with options running forward on either side of him. In typical Manu-fashion it looked like he was going to take on an extra man before sliding a delicate pass through to Youssef sprinting through on the left who took it in his stride and placed his shot right into the bottom corner. A sublime assist and expertly finished.
Rovers seemed to find the confidence lacking in the previous two games and the passing was brilliant at times, especially down the right wing between Andrea and Mike. When it looked like the game was in Rovers’ control an unnecessary free-kick was given away just outside the area. The resulting effort was tame but somehow found its way through Tony’s hands and into the corner. Unfortunately it was ‘one of them things’ that happen in football, from the Premier League to grass-roots and with an hour to go there was no need to panic. However, for some reason this seemed to knock all confidence and concentration out of Rovers and South M’cr began to get into attacking positions themselves. They then took the lead just before half-time when a corner which should have been sent into Row Z was ran out of defence by Mo, who sensed a counter-attack was on, and the ball got nicked off him and sent back out wide to the corner taker who finished well from a tight angle. Despite being the better team by a country mile, Rovers trailed 2-1 at the break.
Second Half
The message from G, who was standing in for Stu for the game, was to go out and be positive and confident as we were for long periods in the first half as we were more than capable of turning around the one-goal deficit. Sadly the second half started as the first had ended and South M’cr soon found themselves 3-1 up after they were left with time and space on the edge of the box and made no mistake. It was almost visible to see Rovers’ heads drop at this point as we were making the same mistakes we had spoken about and needed to cut out. After a period of play where South M’cr kept pressing Rovers high up the pitch, the storm seemed to have been weathered when a fourth goal was conceded almost out of nowhere. Another counter-attack caught Rovers off guard and an unmarked man again found the time and space to pick a shot and left Tony with little hope of making a save. This was becoming embarrassing and the game was fast slipping away once more. G had already made one change with Big Nathan replacing Sanjay up front and made a double-substitution - Woody and Idris replacing Andrea and Garry respectively. The change brought a switch to a more attacking 3-4-3 as we now had to chase the game and win back some personal pride and respect for the club.
Almost immediately after the change Rovers conceded a penalty, with Tony admitting himself he was lucky to escape with a yellow card for bringing down their striker in the box after miscuing a back pass. The pen was put away and, at 5-1 down to South M’cr, Rovers were arguably facing their worst result for a long, long time – even including last year’s fixtures! However, the team began to show grit, determination and real character in not lying down and fighting back. It’s needless to say that with 20 minutes to go and four goals down, we should have been beaten, but we knew a quick reply would put that element of doubt into South M’cr heads. A free-kick on the edge of the box won by Idris’ run off the ball was tucked away by Manu for 5-2, with the keeper letting it slip through his fingers and getting berated by his team-mates – exactly what we wanted. Rovers worked hard to press as high up the pitch as possible and the three forwards provided the pace and width up-front needed. A mistake was forced by Manu who ran clean through on the wing, with the keeper surprisingly rushing out and missing the ball, and Manu found the net from the tightest of angles from out wide. 5-3 and now we were in the ascendancy with 10 minutes to go. Now it was all Rovers possession and when a long throw was flicked on inside the box, Idris with his back to goal acrobatically leaped and met the ball with a powerful overhead kick which flew into the net. An outstanding debut goal and a strong early contender for goal of the season. Sadly, despite the superb comeback display and character shown by the team in the last twenty minutes, there wasn’t enough time left on the clock to find the equaliser.
Full Time: South Manchester 5 – 4 Rovers
As Stu said after being informed of the match events, despite the scoreline the sheer fact we fell 5-1 down against a team like South M’cr makes a mockery of the club. However, it doesn’t tell the whole story of the game as, without even letting bias affect my judgment, there was only one team that deserved to win this game and it was not South M’cr. For two-thirds of the game Rovers dominated the play and the overall performance was first class but the game was lost due to Rovers errors yet again. Tony stood up and took blame for two of the goals but this result was not down to one player – we lost as a team. But, if we go into next week showing the same commitment, determination and sheer will as we did in the last 15-20 minutes here we get back to winning ways. Simple.
Comment
Thanks to G for taking the time out of his Saturday to fill in for Stu and manage the team.
NB
This was a couple of days ago, please correct any mistakes or omissions.