Home to Grange 2s

I’ve always been cagey about internal derby matches; whether as the favoured side who might come a cropper; or as the underdog who might get pummeled; either way, defeat is usually hard to take and bragging rights are always fun to hold.
The 3s have steadily shown positive signs of improvement in the last 2 fixtures, so here was another chance to do so against the league leaders.
It was decided that a variation on a full-press might help us from having to chase the ball too much over the length of the pitch, especially with their two senior centre-backs absent. The plan proved fruitful for much of the first half and we certainly enjoyed the better openings, but unfortunately we couldn’t take advantage of several excellent opportunities that we carved out – games like these require what few chances come your way to be taken.
Pleasingly, not only was our defense not having to bend too much, our passing was far more exact than in many other recent appearances, both over short and long distances.
The 2s did grab the lead in the first half, after they capitalised on confusion arising from an overturned umpire decision which saw us overcommit our backline to what we thought was an attacking opportunity.
The second half was much harder going as our players flagged and we were unable to maintain as secure a press as the first period; we decided to continue with the plan as a deeper defensive line has not served us well in most matches this season and the high-risk strategy had a better chance of paying out.
The 2s created several clear chances, all of which were squandered, until they got the decisive goal with less than ten minutes left; it was such a fortuitous goal that I can’t recall our opposition even celebrated it !

All-in-all another encouraging game, but it will all mean nought if we can’t draw on all of the positives from these past three fixtures and turn them into something tangible in the next four games (4 wins from 4 is the goal) which will help to define our season.

My thanks to Ed & Donald who umpired.

Picture - when the seagulls follow the trawler...