Post by redway on Apr 12, 2010 13:49:11 GMT
Match Report: 11th April 2010:
NPTFC Lions 2 v 1 Bedford Town A
Half – Time: 1 - 1
Scorers: Liam Scott (2)
In the words of the great Brian Clough “ young man ......it only takes a second to score a goal” which was just as well for the Lions today given the winner came a few seconds from the ref’s final whistle. It was harsh on Bedford who played a lot of good football and were extremely well disciplined in defence. The only positive note for the Lions was they did keep pressing for that crucial winner and finally made the most of the chances that they had created. I don’t think anyone was under any illusions it was way off our best however.
A few changes today with injuries in the warm up and Jack Croxford away causing havoc on foreign shores. John and Jack Allen took over in central defence that is about as different in physique from the Chuckle brothers as it can get. Elsewhere Mitch joined Matty in midfield.
From the start we seemed lethargic...too many Easter eggs, Xbox, ..whatever it was slow in both thought and effort. With a strong wind behind the Lions, we did get pressure on Bedford but too often it was a long punt rather than a sustained attack. Bedford also pressed forward and showed they had the skills and craft to unpick the Lions defence. On a number of occasions John, Dan Booth, Jack A and Captain Luke had to nick the ball away under pressure. Eben and Brandon did get the ball but as with the rest tended to dwell rather than play and move. This meant what ball Westy and Liam did get tended to be slow and more often than not put them under pressure. We did however take the lead when a good move down the right saw Dan and Eben create some space and the latter lifted a ball over the excellent Bedford central defender and Liam managed to react fastest to lob the keeper.
Hopefully the team can relax and get into their flow I think was the general mood. That was not the case and it actually started to get worse...too deep in places, quality lacking in others and no energy. After a bizarre moment when Bedford had a corner that Dan called for but missed and which was then headed onto the bar and rebounded back into his arms...couldn’t practice that – Bedford equalised. Another brisk counter attack in acres of space saw them work the ball down our right flank. A neat piece of interplay saw space created for a cross and the wind and a bit of luck (which was deserved) saw the ball go over Dan into the net.
With the conditions against us in the second half we really needed to have our noses in front but alas not and half time was probably an uncomfortable 5 minutes of listening to Michael B.
Second half and still no reaction from the Lions and worse still Bedford looked more threatening as they reached the last third. I think credit to Dan and the defence though was they didn’t carve a real chance out over the next 45 minutes and had a few long range shots, which Dan dealt with admirably. After an hour we saw Ross reappear after a few weeks out with an ankle injury, on for John who had taken a nasty kick to the instep. His added height gave us presence and he can drill a ball when needed. We finally also started to get Brandon and Eben away down the flanks and Brandon showed good pace as two or three times, he took on the right back and crossed menacingly. We had a few more shuffles with Kevin coming on for Liam and then 10 minutes later Liam took over from Westy. In that time we had at long last cranked up the pressure and Mitch and Matty had at last got the legs moving and Mitch started to run the show. Distribution improved, far quicker and more assured in its quality. As this happened the chinks appeared as Bedford felt the “heat”. Eben managed to cut round the back on two occasions but somehow a Bedford foot deflected the ball away or a Bedford body. It didn’t seem t be going our way and when Eben linked with Kevin and he went solo and blazed over and then a fizzing cross from Liam ended up over again it looked like our chance had gone.
We weren’t their to be denied and in the final seconds we go round the back again and a shot ended up at Mitch’s feet he coolly picked his spot and only a desperate lunge stopped it going in. Alas for Bedford it fell to Liam and he passed the ball home....to a huge sigh of relief from the home spectators. Back to the half way line and two touches from Bedford and it was game over. It wasn’t to be until 7.00 pm that evening we knew quite how important that goal might be.
The relevance of that goal became apparent at 7.00pm on Sunday when we found out Leighton had been held by Lea Sports and we had joined them at the top of the league...but with a game in hand. So all to play for in terms of the League now although up next for the Lions is a League Cup game against Leighton United.
We do need to improve on today but I think everyone knows that. I would like to make one point though and that is we need to be more assertive in games as we often don’t attack the ball and think our football will always get us out of trouble. You have to win those battles to make the football count and at times today, we didn’t do that enough.
Squad: Dan Shaw, Luke Parker, Matty Cullis, Liam Scott, Jack Westbrook, Kevin Feldman, Mitch Tofts, Brandon Banda, Jack Allen, Johnny Harman, Eben Darko, Dan Booth and Ross Wheeler.
Absent somewhere in Germany: Jack Croxford
Absent with “Torres Knee syndrome” – Alex Collard
NPTFC Lions 2 v 1 Bedford Town A
Half – Time: 1 - 1
Scorers: Liam Scott (2)
In the words of the great Brian Clough “ young man ......it only takes a second to score a goal” which was just as well for the Lions today given the winner came a few seconds from the ref’s final whistle. It was harsh on Bedford who played a lot of good football and were extremely well disciplined in defence. The only positive note for the Lions was they did keep pressing for that crucial winner and finally made the most of the chances that they had created. I don’t think anyone was under any illusions it was way off our best however.
A few changes today with injuries in the warm up and Jack Croxford away causing havoc on foreign shores. John and Jack Allen took over in central defence that is about as different in physique from the Chuckle brothers as it can get. Elsewhere Mitch joined Matty in midfield.
From the start we seemed lethargic...too many Easter eggs, Xbox, ..whatever it was slow in both thought and effort. With a strong wind behind the Lions, we did get pressure on Bedford but too often it was a long punt rather than a sustained attack. Bedford also pressed forward and showed they had the skills and craft to unpick the Lions defence. On a number of occasions John, Dan Booth, Jack A and Captain Luke had to nick the ball away under pressure. Eben and Brandon did get the ball but as with the rest tended to dwell rather than play and move. This meant what ball Westy and Liam did get tended to be slow and more often than not put them under pressure. We did however take the lead when a good move down the right saw Dan and Eben create some space and the latter lifted a ball over the excellent Bedford central defender and Liam managed to react fastest to lob the keeper.
Hopefully the team can relax and get into their flow I think was the general mood. That was not the case and it actually started to get worse...too deep in places, quality lacking in others and no energy. After a bizarre moment when Bedford had a corner that Dan called for but missed and which was then headed onto the bar and rebounded back into his arms...couldn’t practice that – Bedford equalised. Another brisk counter attack in acres of space saw them work the ball down our right flank. A neat piece of interplay saw space created for a cross and the wind and a bit of luck (which was deserved) saw the ball go over Dan into the net.
With the conditions against us in the second half we really needed to have our noses in front but alas not and half time was probably an uncomfortable 5 minutes of listening to Michael B.
Second half and still no reaction from the Lions and worse still Bedford looked more threatening as they reached the last third. I think credit to Dan and the defence though was they didn’t carve a real chance out over the next 45 minutes and had a few long range shots, which Dan dealt with admirably. After an hour we saw Ross reappear after a few weeks out with an ankle injury, on for John who had taken a nasty kick to the instep. His added height gave us presence and he can drill a ball when needed. We finally also started to get Brandon and Eben away down the flanks and Brandon showed good pace as two or three times, he took on the right back and crossed menacingly. We had a few more shuffles with Kevin coming on for Liam and then 10 minutes later Liam took over from Westy. In that time we had at long last cranked up the pressure and Mitch and Matty had at last got the legs moving and Mitch started to run the show. Distribution improved, far quicker and more assured in its quality. As this happened the chinks appeared as Bedford felt the “heat”. Eben managed to cut round the back on two occasions but somehow a Bedford foot deflected the ball away or a Bedford body. It didn’t seem t be going our way and when Eben linked with Kevin and he went solo and blazed over and then a fizzing cross from Liam ended up over again it looked like our chance had gone.
We weren’t their to be denied and in the final seconds we go round the back again and a shot ended up at Mitch’s feet he coolly picked his spot and only a desperate lunge stopped it going in. Alas for Bedford it fell to Liam and he passed the ball home....to a huge sigh of relief from the home spectators. Back to the half way line and two touches from Bedford and it was game over. It wasn’t to be until 7.00 pm that evening we knew quite how important that goal might be.
The relevance of that goal became apparent at 7.00pm on Sunday when we found out Leighton had been held by Lea Sports and we had joined them at the top of the league...but with a game in hand. So all to play for in terms of the League now although up next for the Lions is a League Cup game against Leighton United.
We do need to improve on today but I think everyone knows that. I would like to make one point though and that is we need to be more assertive in games as we often don’t attack the ball and think our football will always get us out of trouble. You have to win those battles to make the football count and at times today, we didn’t do that enough.
Squad: Dan Shaw, Luke Parker, Matty Cullis, Liam Scott, Jack Westbrook, Kevin Feldman, Mitch Tofts, Brandon Banda, Jack Allen, Johnny Harman, Eben Darko, Dan Booth and Ross Wheeler.
Absent somewhere in Germany: Jack Croxford
Absent with “Torres Knee syndrome” – Alex Collard