25.09 Home Cumnor Minors v Ducklington (Loss 1-5)

We went into this game knowing Ducklington were a good team and are expected to be there at the end of the season. Wherever, there is. We expected good things and knew this would be a step up but believed we had a good chance.

On a lovely morning on a good quality pitch we we played reasonably well. But, they showed the next step of what we need to achieve. The next step involves marking, challenging, tackling and being 1st to the ball. They looked a bit fitter and had that extra sharpness and by doing this did not give us an opportunity to move the ball. In turn due to this extra steel they won the ball and managed to move it with some good quality passing and interplay. Their corners were excellent.

We had some opportunities but they played with the defense high up the pitch constantly squeezing the game forward.

HT 2-0 after goals at 7 and 24 minutes.

We changed to a more adventurous formation after half time as we needed to push the ball up the pitch and to a degree this worked. After 35 minutes they scored but we battled away and we were very pleased to see a goal from Flynn at 47minutes and it was 3-1. They later took advantage of the gaps we left when trying to push forward and ended up worthy winners. FT 5-1.

Overall a very good learning opportunity that we can use to take our game forward. I believe we can all move forward and learn our best formation.We know what we need to do and we were not out classed and even at the end we did not buckle and we did not complain. A great team spirit.

Man of the match sponsored this week by 'Vinny Jones' who is going to be our guest coach over the next few weeks. - Grant Rutherford a sterling performance particularly in the second half. Thanks to Mehmet for stepping up to play in goal with Adams absence.

Thanks Lee for running the line whilst at the same time providing more coaching than me and Mark. Next time you are linesman can you leave the megaphone at home!

Well done Alan, parents and players of Ducklington we look forward to our next match. It WILL be a different game! Thanks to all.........................Next week................