After the disappointment of last week I was looking for a response from our lot and wanted to see what they were really made of and they answered me in fine style with a solid performance and victory to complete the treble over Marlborough Ladies this season.

I asked a lot of them before the game and spoke at length about going out there and proving that the previous two wins against this team weren’t a fluke and to show hunger and pride for the shirt and badge they were wearing.

I also discussed how I wanted us to go about the job and where to focus our play and I was very pleased with how the players responded to that feedback and the manner in which they tried to put what we asked of them into practice.

I gave one or two players some individual instructions too but in the main we tried to execute the game plan as a team and they did a fine job of taking on board the tactical information and carrying it out on the pitch.

I also mentioned that in recent weeks we’d got into the bad habit of doing a lot of “blind” passing whereby we weren’t really looking before passing the ball and instead, sometimes playing the ball blindly into space and often giving it away in the process. But this time we were much more controlled and took a lot more care and that really allowed us to dominate proceedings and gave us superior possession of the ball.

In our previous games against Marlborough we found the first-halves to be closely contested affairs before pulling away to win those games 5:1 and 6:1 respectively. I warned the players about their strengths and how they liked to launch attacks and we adjusted ourselves and prepared for them a lot better in this match. I don’t recall them creating a proper chance in open play.

The first-half was still a tight affair however as we went in at half-time at 0:0. We were by far the better team though and had pretty much played all the football in their half, but we hadn’t really created any genuine chances on goal. At best, we’d created some half-chances but most of our shots were high looping ones and the Marlborough keeper had great hands and scooped up a lot of those awkward balls on the day.

At half-time I told the players to remain focused and calm in the second-period and not to rush their play because all we needed was a little bit of care in the final third and some composure to unlock the door and be ready to take that opportunity when it came. We asked them to gamble a bit more and get into the box to get on the end of things too.

We wanted the players to get the ball under control and play it wide early but a lot of our balls in the first-half were played too straight and had we had more pace up top we might have capitalised, but in the end, their goalkeeper was able to collect a lot of these through balls with relative ease. So I asked them to play balls a little more diagonally in the second period and we put Chloe Julien up top (who started in goal) to add a little more pace to the front line to see if we could get on the end of some of these through balls.

And it worked a treat in the second-half. We got wide much earlier and played some good football and looked more threatening overall. Marlborough however had the best chance to open the scoring after they hit the post from a corner and had that gone in for them, which was their only real opportunity, it may have spurred them on.

Instead though we went down the other end and carved open their defence only for Jade Creighton to hit the post with a cracking drive. She was unlucky as it came back off the woodwork and across the face of the goal but straight into the keepers arms.

But we continued to push forward and were getting more joy, particularly down the right channel where we eventually moved Jade Bowley to right-back and had her and Kesleigh Danielle Long operating down that flank. This eventually led to Anita Afonso breaking into the box on the right and squaring for Chloe to fire in from close range to give us the lead.

Marlborough didn’t create any clear cut opportunities in open play which I was happy about, but they still put us under a good period of intense pressure when we were 1:0 up and had a series of corners that we just couldn’t seem to clear. They had a good go but we soaked up the pressure really well and a few weeks ago we might have conceded in that period.

Defensively we were as solid as I can remember all season. Instead we held on strong and looked determined to hold onto our lead and then we went and killed the game off with the second. We broke again down the right flank and Anita delivered a cross into the box which Chloe arrived on cue to volley quite beautifully in off the post with an excellent finish.

Overall I was very pleased with the performance. We looked assured, in control and played with a patience that we’ve been lacking in recent weeks. We didn’t create a great deal of chances, but when we did, we were clinical and that was very encouraging to see. I was also extremely pleased we kept a clean sheet because we’ve been conceding too many goals of late and it’s about time we shut up shop at the back.

I thought Jade Bowley put in a very disciplined performance and showed good tactical intelligence by attempting to do the very specific things asked of her and we still need to work out where to use her. It seems that depending on the type of opposition or game, she is sometimes better suited to the wing or right-back position. Today she featured on both flanks and at right-back and did a great job in all areas.

The defence and midfield were solid and played with good authority and Chloe proved that if you gamble and get into the box, you can get your rewards and she got both her goals after being moved out onto the left of midfield.

All in all I was encouraged by what I saw. We played with a different style because we had different personnel and we adapted to that very well and we generally worked hard and maintained a focus and maturity throughout the match that pleased me.

And last week I questioned whether the team still had the heart and desire and here I got my answer… Yes, yes they do.

Team: Chloe Julien, Melanie Randall (Kylie Worster), Nkechi Chukwueke, Vicky James, Amber Luzar, Jade Bowley, Kesleigh Danielle Long, Anita Afonso, Scarlett Hanrahan, Natalie Worster (Sam Black), Jade Creighton

Subs: Kylie Worster & Sam Black

Goals: Julien 2

This entry was posted on Monday, March 30th, 2009 at 10:56 am and is filed under blog (everything), ladies. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.