Euxton Villa 2 Walton West
End 0
This was a close game, but one
that Euxton always deserved to win. Due to unavailability of
4 players we had to make some changes with Tom and Lee
playing wide and Dominic playing as sweeper. Before the game
we emphasised to the boys about the need to start well and
they did. Right from the kick off we were sharp to the ball
and pressed WWE back into their own half. In fact we had
played 10 minutes before the game was played in Euxton's
half at all. Whilst we were sharp in gaining possesion the
few weeks gap since we last played a match was showing ,
with the quality of the final pass not at the level we have
been used to.
WWE worked hard at getting into
the game and came into it more from around midway through
the first half, but Euxton were always having slightly the
better of it. Lewis worked hard to get onto the end of a
through pass and withstood a challenge but just put his
chance wide. We also had shots from Matthew and Steven
without working the goalkeeper enough. WWE had strength in
the middle of their defence and were working hard to keep us
out. They did try to create chances at the other end but
despite winning some corners Matthew never made a save in
the first half - other than a deflected cross which came off
an Euxton player. Our make shift defence was doing well with
Dominic managing to curb his natural tendancy to attack the
ball and dropping off to sweep behind George and James. Its
difficult to do that as its a different requirement
mentally to his more natural midfield position and I think
it was the best he has done it yet - Mr Versatile remains a
valuable player.
At half time their was a little
frustration amongst the boys because they felt they had not
created the chances their possesion had deserved and they
were right. We knew that we had to step it up in the second
half and our quality would come back.
The next half saw one of the
best displays we have seen from our midfield three. Steven
was winning the ball and spreading good passes , Myles
subdued the best WWE midfield player (despite knocks to knee
and ankle) and Matthew started to win everything. Matthew
played like the player we know he can be , worked incredibly
hard , won lots of tackles and put Tom in behind the full
back on a number of occasions with passes of real quality.
If he can sustain that level they are few players who will
compete with him for the second half of this season. We were
on top and despite a number of balls over the top which we
had to deal with at the back, WWE only had one shot that
needed a save. A good save it was though, with Matty coming
of his line well to smother a shot when the WWE beat our
offside and was left clear in front of goal.
We had lots of pressure and a
few goalmouth scrambles. Shots from Tom and Connor forced
saves from the WWE goalkeeper but we weren't making enough
out wide with the possesion the midfield 3 had won. We were
looking for a bit of quality to open them up. Lewis was
doing well coming off his marker and competed for 50:50
balls with determination. When he gets on the ball Lewis is
one of the best passers in the team and he tried hard to get
Connor clear.
With 10 minutes to go, Matthew
won a challenge and took an accidental bang to the head. He
was wound up when we gave him some treatment and we asked
him to use it to force the opponents back. Right from the
goal kick he did that , winning a header and attacking the
clearance to win a corner. He then hit in a quality corner
which after a bit of a scramble Lee arrived at the right
time to finish well. A good reward for someone else who had
worked very hard , out of position for the good of the
team.
Once we had scored we knew that
WWE would come out more and we created chances for Tom and
Connor which we didn't quite take. However after a great
cross from George the clearance was won by Steven who put
Lee in. He took his defender on and fired his shot which the
keeper got a hand to but Lewis was first to the rebound to
score.
A good win against a good side.
Some positives were the willingness of boys to play out of
position , the strength of the midfield 3 (will be needed
next week against Ladybridge) Dominic continues to learn 2
roles well , Lee and Tom worked hard and never let us down.
It was a shame that things were too tight for too long to
get Sammy and Joe on. Joe in particular showed great
attitude cheering the team on throughout - his day will
come.
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