What was up with the scoreboard showing Nottingham Forest as “N/Forest”? It’s so wrong and odd looking that it probably distracted the players. I mean, come on, “N.Forest” or “N Forest”, but never “N/Forest”! It’s the little details that makes football “football” guys. It’s probably just me. I know, I’m a freak.

But I was also amazed and concerned at how long it took us to turn the floodlights on after half-time. The players were playing in the dark for a good five minutes. That’s hardly professional, and while a spelling oddity is forgiveable, not getting these details right for the team is not. It probably wasn’t as bad as it seemed, but it was certainly strange watching them running about in such low light conditions.

Before Fitz Hall took the throw that led to Angelo Balanta’s first goal, I said to Sam and Leonie: “Oh, we must have worked on something as he’s not usually up here taking them”, and low and behold, we had a move where Damien Delaney flicked the ball on and Balanta went in and poached.

If I was Forest, I’d have been pretty peeved to concede such a soft goal, but they got caught cold twice. The goal gave me a strange feeling too. On one hand I was really pleased we’d worked on something on the other it seemed so basic and such a cheap goal for the opposition to give away because of its simplicity. I was angry on Forest’s behalf for such abysmal defending!

That got me thinking about the international break as well. If you had two weeks, what would you do with the players? Would you go all out preparing for Nottingham Forest? Would you expect them to do the same? Do you think that would end up with a match where each team cancels one another out?

Would it be better to work on our on general play or set pieces? Would it be better to work on fitness and get their sharpness up again? Perhaps they could do a little bit of that and maybe also some preparation work for the two away fixtures after?

It’s such an interesting concept and one I’ve not really thought about in too much detail before and I’ve not made up my mind on what is the best approach.

Forest’s performance actually irritated me. There’s a decent team in there because they got themselves into so many good positions, but their crossing and final ball was atrocious. Had they had any finesse about their play they could have caused us all sorts of problems, but the majority of the time their wingers were happy to run down blind alleys when someone was positioned close by, free and with the whole box to cross into if they just turned around and passed the ball 5 yards to them.

I spent an age watching Andy Cole’s movement and experience. He had a pretty good game and it was interesting to see which pockets of space and positions he picked up. It was ironic that he was starved of the ball when he actually wanted it, and the best cross of the day came from him when he whipped in a ball across the face of the goal from the corner of the box. How he’d have loved one of those from his team-mates. Damien Stewart repeatedly fouled him too by grabbing or tugging his shirt on numerous occasions, though he got away with it most of the time!

I noted Clive wrote in his match report on Loft For Words that Akos Buzsaky was the difference between the two sides and he was absolutely spot on. It’s at times like these when we need just one of our main men to sparkle and show some form, and although he’s not quite at his peak yet, he demonstrated what he’s capable of and he gave us that little something we needed to secure three very important points. I can’t wait until he’s fully match sharp.

Overall it was one of those performances where two well worked throws masked some of our problems which still exist. From kick off, which we took, the ball was played back to Delaney who just hoofed it right up the pitch to nobody. That set the tone of my mood yesterday but hopefully this win will kick the boys on and they can take confidence from taking three points that we really needed.

I came away pleased with Balanta again. I liked his touch and movement and it’s important to note that he didn’t get too much of the ball, but whenever he did, he usually made good use of it or the right decision in whatever he chose to do. That’s the sign of a promising player and it’s great that he got a goal. I still don’t understand why he was bombed out the team when he was looking like our most exciting striker at the start of the season. I know we need to protect our players, especially the younger ones, but sometimes when someone’s bang in form you’ve got to roll with it.

I could say the same about little old Emmanuel Ledesma sitting on the bench. He was playing with a ball for most of it, juggling and balancing it on his head or spinning and tapping it furiously. The kid just loves playing football and when you’re like that, and bring that desire and passion to the pitch, the rest of the lads will be lifted by it and will respond. I hope he returns to the side soon too.

I suppose it would be fair to say we’ve been a little bit Jekyll and Hide so far this season. I missed last week due to having a bit of an accident on my bike and we lost 6:1 to Wycombe Reserves when in reality I think we all felt that would be a much closer game. The first-team also drew 1:1 with Team Bath but didn’t have a game this weekend.

Today we faced a strong looking Aylesbury side that have started the season well, so were expecting this to be a really tough match. And for the first 15-20 minutes it was, although we still managed to miss a couple of great opportunities in that time as we seemed intent on walking the ball into the net!

By the time we scored, it was still an even game, although we took over from that point and sailed into a 4:0 lead by half-time. We spoke to the players during the interval about the importance of continuing the good work they’d put in and their response was a better second-half showing including six more goals.

We changed a few things including bringing on a couple of players to see if we could take the performance to another level and try a few new things at the same time. We came away pleased with the response and I really admire how these players still show total respect to their opponents regardless of the score. We kept on playing our football in the right way with the right attitude, so it’s very encouraging to see us dishing out these strong second-half showings and that the ladies are concentrating on the job they’re here to do.

I was really pleased with our shape throughout the match and the work we did in training last week appeared to provide us with a solid base to start out with. It was certainly a match that some of the players will have learned from and we hope they can continue building on the information we’re trying to get across for the future.

We’ve also been doing a bit of fitness work with the players and that told towards the end of the game where we seemed to pin Aylesbury deep into their own half for long periods and looked the fresher of the two teams whereas they looked slightly tired and drained. There’s still many more improvements we can get out of our players in this area yet, but it was the first-time that I really felt I could see the difference and I think the players realised that themselves too.

Despite the scoreline here, Aylesbury are a decent side and I expect them to be thereabouts at the back end of the season.

Team: Syan Armstrong, Kelly Bloomquist, Melanie Randall (Alex Lupano), Nikki Crump (Stephanie Lupano), Ellie Sullivan, Chloe Julien (Sarafea Braveboy), Anita Afonso, Scarlett Hanrahan, Jade Bowley, Danielle Clare Richards (Jade Thirkettle) and Allana Ashmeil

Goals: Richards 3, Bowley, Ashmeil 3, Braveboy 2 and Afonso

The QPR Ladies Reserves lost today against an experienced and well marshalled Oxford City side in a match which proved to be a valuable learning lesson for the Hoops.

We are a young and new team and it showed. We only have a relatively small squad at the present time due to first-team call ups and injuries and when we come up against strong sides like this, then we need a full squad to be able to compete properly.

This match proved that we’re still very much a work in progress and that we can’t blast teams out of sight every week. We went in at half-time 2-0 down and it could have been more, but having said that, the two goals we actually gave away were incredibly sloppy from our point of view and could have easily been avoided had we done the basics right.

I learned an awful lot about our players today and understood a little more about where our strengths and weaknesses lie and where we need to improve as a team. It also served as a potent reminder that many of our players are still young and learning the game. We lacked experience and authority out there in one or two places and needed a bit more maturity to get a proper foothold in the match.

Despite saying that, I was delighted with their response after half-time. They got a bit of a rollicking for their lack of work ethic and desire and came out much improved. We had a fantastic period for about 5-10 minutes where we create two glorious opportunities to get ourselves back into the match, but the Oxford keeper was equal to it with some great saves.

Then we went and condeded another crazy goal that could easily been avoided. Oxford did create more chances though and thanks to a fine performance in the sticks from a half-fit Syan Armstrong we came away unscathed and despite the visitors dominating most of the play, we still created three glorious chances in that second-half which on another day may have yielded goals.

It’s pleasing to see that we can still create opportunities against solid defences and when I look back and think about the actual football that led to those chances, it was some of the better stuff played on the pitch in comparison to Oxford’s goals, which mainly came from individual errors and mistakes.

I’m pretty confident that with some hard work on the training ground, we can solve where our weaknesses lie and improve our strengths, so I’m really looking forward to seeing that evolve as the season progresses.

Team: Syan Armstrong, Stephanie Lupano, Jade Thirkettle, Melanie Randall, Kelley Bloomquist, Katie Smith, Scarlett Hanrahan, Jade Creighton, Jade Bowley, Sarah (Chloe Julien) and Allana Ashmeil.

Meanwhile the first team won 3-0 against Swindon making it six wins out of six, having beaten Team Western last week 5-3!

I said a little while back that if we continued to play in the manner we’ve done recently, then you’ll find that we’ll either win or lose a lot of games by the odd goal, and mainly 1-0 or 0-1 with the odd draw here or there thrown in for good measure. I don’t mean every game will end up with those scorelines, I just mean the actual play will be that sort of a game, and if a team gets killed off at the end because the other went for it, then that’s just how footbll can work. We’re in that cycle at the moment, it seems.

My main concern at the moment is that there doesn’t appear to be a plan. That’s what worries me. It’s like the players are simply doing just the basics without any remote sign of intelligence in terms of going forward or even defending resolutely with a clear plan of breaking with pace on the counter attack. Even the creative men are not sparkling but we’re also struggling to get any of them on the ball in the areas we want them to be in.

I don’t mind a performance full of grit and hard grafting. We’ve certainly added that to our arsenal this season, but we can’t rely on that all the time. In the end you stifle yourself and come up short, and so far in these recent games, that’s what’s been happening. Football is a game that requires skill , patience and the courage to take a gamble. The understanding of how and when to take risk is key to reducing the probability of something going wrong on the counter attack.

The shame about today is we grafted well for 40 minutes. In fact, up until then, it was an excellent first-half performance away from home against a top Championship side. We had just as much possession and had used the ball quite well without them ever really threatening us.

But, for 5 minutes there was a clear shift in our mentality and approach. We switched off and all the good things we did, we stopped doing, because we settled on the idea that actually going in at 0-0 was a good thing. This subtle change meant we began to drop off and sit deeper and deeper and allow Birmingham more time and space on the ball and then we got punished for it.

And the goal itself was a really poor one to give away. I mean, there was just so much wrong with it from a defensive point of view it’s hard to know where to start, but I’ll have a crack. Damion Stewart’s positioning as the ball came over the top was wrong. He played Gary O’Connor onside by about a yard but that didn’t stop him signalling that it was offside.

Fitz Hall then had a miserable attempt to try and block the cross and Stewart, who was covering behind that also got his position wrong. He was facing his goal towards the near post. It would be much better to shape your body outwards in that instance, so that you can sprint out and meet the flight of the ball as well as allowing you to see what’s coming into the box. He did neither and in the end, marked the area that Radek Cerny had covered.

On top of this, as that ball came over the top, there was really only Gary O’Connor and Kevin Phillips causing any sort of threat because the rest of the Birmingham players were well behind play. Damien Delaney could have tucked in and picked up Phillips as Stewart went off to the near post. Mikele Leigertwood could have been faster to pick him up, but really there were enough defenders there to deal with this situation and understand where the two dangermen were in all of this. Hard to blame any one man for the goal apart from several - it was so soft and really a result of the team’s change in mentality so we have only ourselves to blame collectively.

It’s these little details and small margins that make the difference between a top side and an avergae one an we’re showing signs that we’re in the mould of the latter right now. At the start of the season and having looked at the squad a lot during pre-season and the early games, I felt we would be a top 8 side with anything more a bonus. I still feel that way now but we’re still capable of breaking into that top 6 so long as we don’t hit too many sticky patches like this.

We already can’t afford too many more defeats because something tells me we won’t see a repeat of what Iain Dowie did with Crystal Palace or what Luigi De Canio did with us last season. The shame about us right now is I’m finding us a little bit on the boring side and a bit dull. We’re predictable too, which is amazing given the talent we have across the team.

I’ve been thinking a lot in the last days about what Dowie said about systems and that it’s about the players. I think it’s he’s got some points, but it’s really about both. If you want certain systems to work then you need a certain style or type of player. Buzsaky in a 4-5-1 behind the striker under De Canio was electric, but he’s still to be tried there in this system under Dowie.

When I think about the defence I also don’t feel any of the current starting four are good enough when in possession on the ball. They are not passing players and the way we’re trying to play they’ve got to be better. Matthew Connolly is the best of the lot on the ball, but he didn’t start and only got five minutes but I also liked the look of Kaspars Gorkss when he had the ball at his feet. Maybe, with these two in the side we’d see some more controlled build up, better ball retention and a better solution to getting our creative men on the ball in the right areas.

Right now though, we seem to lack an attacking plan and need to work on some patterns and passages of play. If you do that, then you can get the front two working and not standing like statues, because they’d know where they’d need to be… either short to feet, up on their marker or down the channels and reacting to movement around them rather than an ad-hoc chase after a random punt into a zone and area of the pitch that they’re never really going to get to. It would also compensate for lesser technical ability at the back as the players will know what’s expected in a given situation. It’s something that De Canio did fantastically well in his time with us and I just hope Dowie and his team can use some of that nous too.

I hope we don’t continue to come away from games like today and feeling like if we just went for it, and just dared ourselves to have a go and try and scare Birmingham, then we’d probably been walking away with something from the game.

I noted on one particular occasion no fewer than four players strolling back at walking pace after we lost the ball. They were all in the Blackpool half and if I was in charge, that behaviour would have infuriated me. It’s downright lazy and it doesn’t matter if you are tired or not on form, you have to do the basics properly.

I thought Lee Cook didn’t have a good game from a defensive perspective. He drifted forward on occasion but never tracked back and a couple of times I was watching him looking at the players lurking and drifting free in dangerous positions and wondered why he wasn’t doing anything about it! Perhaps he was told to stick high up the park though to remain as a threat, but it was because he was so far away that we conceded a goal to a superb strike. Cook was behind the play and had he been closer he may not have got a tackle of challenge in, but he could have affected and altered the outcome had he been in a better position.

Having said that though, what a strike. As soon as Gary Taylor-Fletcher connected I couldn’t help but shout out “Oh great hit, it’s in!” before watching it sail into the top corner. It was such a deceiving strike because the way the ball moved and the pace it travelled still made it look like Radek Cerny might be able to stop it, but it was travelling away from him and upwards all the time and at a trajectory that was perfect!

I really liked Blackpool. They popped the ball about well, had good movement and got stuck in where they needed to. They were impressive in the air too, winning many of the aerial battles on display out there.

Daniel Parejo is just a kid, as is Emmanuel Ledesma, but we’re seemingly looking to these guys to pull all the strings and take the game by the scruff of the neck, but that’s what the experienced players are there to do and that’s when you need your leaders on the park to do their business. We seem to be lacking that in our side, even though it was a fairly experienced line-up.

We have to give the younger players the time to develop and they will make mistakes, so asking Parejo to control and boss the game from the back didn’t seem to be the right way to approach things. He is good enough to dictate play and has the skill and ability to do so, but when the others around him are not used to that sort of style, then you have to wonder what the point is and whether they’ve worked on this properly on the training pitch?

I noticed as well that whenever we had the ball, especially Parejo, Gavin Mahon was dropping into a centre-back position. This often made us a back of four or five, depending on where Peter Ramage was lingering. This didn’t help Parejo as it gave him fewer options for a forward pass and just seemed counter productive and led to him giving away possession cheaply. It’s not easy for these guys to come in and play three times in a week, with a style of football that’s very different to what they’re used to.

Another thing that has gone missing from our play is the counter attacking football that made us so dangerous in some of our previous games or under Luigi De Canio. The players we have means we are capable of breaking really fast, but even Cerny isn’t throwing the ball out as much to his full backs of late and we appear to be forcing the play a little which is a sign that the players are not quite sure of their roles or how to deal with certain passages of play as they materialise on the pitch.

We did do some things better than against Derby on Saturday though. I was pleased to see Martin Rowlands, Lee Cook and Emmanuel Ledesma all pushing further forward and supporting Dexter Blackstock. Cook and Ledesma came inside far more and picked up some better attacking positions and Rowlands was joining the attack a fair amount, but it wasn’t really enough on the night. I’d have preferred Parejo to be behind Blackstock over Rowlands myself, as having Rowly on the ball more deeper gives us greater balance than at the spearhead of a packed midfield.

I was pleased with a point in the end. We had more of the play in the second-half and we kept on going and in the end got a reward for our perseverance. We played better in the second period too, even if it wasn’t that much better than the first but we had better shape and energy once we brought on Mikele Leigertwood and Patrick Agyemang.

Akos Buzsaky’s strike from the free-kick was fabulous and you have to give credit to Dex for continously putting himself in there. Sure, he missed a few, but in the end he stuck one away and that meant we got something from the game. I thought the goal that was disallowed was a foul, even though most fans around me had no idea why it wasn’t given or didn’t feel anything was wrong.

Overall it was an abject display that seemed to be somewhat lacking in passion, desire and form. But these things happen in football and you go through these little lulls throughout every season. We’ve just got to try and snap out of it quickly ad find a spark from somewhere and there are more than enough players at the club who are capable of jump-starting us again.

I said a little while ago that we didn’t seem to have a real plan when going forward with the ball and this performance brought those memories flooding back. It seems like the idea is to try and get our creative players on the ball and then let them decide what to do with it, except, we rarely got the ball to Emmanuel Ledesma and some of the others, especially in the areas and positions that they can do serious damage, which is after switches of play and possession and on the counter. The style we’ve adopted in the last few matches has not really allowed us to do any of those.

When those players are not on form or being tightly marked, it’s giving the rest of them a headache because they’re opting to pump it long and go very direct, which when you’ve got one bloke up top scrapping for service against four defenders, well, it’s not rocket science to realise it’s tough for that guy to win the ball, hold up play or get a quality flick on. We need an alternative plan if we don’t change this system we’re using and although I want us to win and be up there from the off, I am fascinated watching it unfold and evolve.

The QPR Ladies Reserves put in another driven performance away to Ascot to secure their second victory of the season with a resounding 11:2 victory.

We should have been in the lead in the first-half, but fell behind only for Allana Ashmeil to dig us out of jail and put us 2-1 up. Ascott got back on level terms though after we gave away another sloppy goal and it took that to really wake us up and take control of the game.

Katie Smith scored with a terrific looping shot to restore our lead and then Anita Afonso scored with a lovely strike before Allana sealed a first-half hat-trick to take us into half-time at 5-2. In the second-period we dominated from the outset and it was mainly one-way traffic. Allana grabbed another three goals, taking her tally to a double hat-trick, Jade Bowley got a brace and Scarlett Hanharan netted as well.

I was delighted that the entire midfield got on the scoresheet. It’s important the goals are spread and shared around as it breeds confidence and means we can rely on many different players and areas of the side to score goals. We know we won’t win like this every week.

As for the match, well, I thought we were a little bit scrappy at times, but we did play the better football and when we did get it down and tried to work it we played some nice stuff and caused Ascot all sorts of problems. The midfield bossed the game from start to finish and in the second-half really orchestrated the play and created plenty of chances for our strikers.

I was pleased with us defensively too. Although we conceded two relatively cheap goals, we had a number of players playing out of their natural positions so we can be pleased how they worked as a unit. They also kept a clean sheet in the second-half which for me was a plus and they couldn’t have done much more in the circumstances.

Despite the scoreline, there’s still lots for us to work on and we’re not kidding ourselves as we’re still blending as a team and learning about each others games. We had another couple of debutants out there too, so with that in mind, we’re doing well and are on the right track and it’s exciting to think what they could achieve if we continue working hard on the training pitch as we’re making good strides forward.

Overall, it’s a fantastic achievement to hit double figures for the second time in a row and the players know they are setting themselves very high standards that they need to maintain on a regular basis. They can be very proud of there work here though as it was another top win and remarkable scoreline.

Team: Syan Armstrong, Alex Lupano, Stephanie Lupano, Kelley Bloomquist, Melanie Randall, Jade Bowley, Katie Smith, Scarlett Hanrahan, Anita Afonso, Chloe Julien and Allana Ashmeil

Goals: Ashmeil 6, Smith, Afonso, Bowley 2 and Hanrahan

When I saw the starting eleven I felt that we were probably asking for trouble. It was practically the same team that had won so fantastically well against Aston Villa earlier in the week to secure an easy tie at Old Trafford against the Premiership and European Champions.

The Villa game wasn’t really as physical a battle as it could have been, but it was definitely a mentally exhausting one for the players. We were up against better class opposition, on their home patch and it was a cup tie so we had to ride our luck once or twice and put in a really disciplined and focused display.

We did that really well, but in that match, we didn’t actually create a great deal in the final third and that’s fine. What does one expect us to do against a team who are now sitting in third place in the Premier League? We did what we had to and needed to do to get a result.

In this match however, we started with the same 4-5-1 formation and played it like a real 4-5-1 which is what we did against Villa. In some of our other games this season, this 4-5-1 system has often turned into a 4-3-3 due to the personnel and that’s allowed us to be creative. Today though we played it like it looks, 4-5-1 and that led to many of our problems.

The play seemed congested from the off and was far too condensed with little width. This was a problem for both teams, but we didn’t seem as keen as normal to spread the ball wide and that played into Derby’s favour. They kept it nice and packed in the middle and this led to lots of challenges, misplaced passes or moves breaking down with nobody having the space to play.

We never really got going or took the onus to really take the game to Derby, when we should have being the home team and with so much creative talent on show. At the same time though, the players didn’t look like they had the legs to do it and I wonder whether we could have done with some fresh legs in there. The sun was out as well and that didn’t help us in the first-half as it appeared to be causing us difficulty when attempting to deal with high balls. It did annoy me when Radek Cerny got stick from the fans for missing and easy catch which bounced off his chest… he quite clearly couldn’t see it at all… I had to tell a disgruntled fan who effed and blinded about it to give it a rest, but then he started going on about how he kept punching the ball against Villa so I put my fingers in my ears (I didn’t really, but I wanted to!)

The system didn’t help poor old Damien Delaney either or the entire defence actually. Whenever they had the ball the middle looked so rammed (see what I did there?) that none of them felt comfortable to play a short ball in fear of losing it, so they pumped it long to Dexter Blackstock, who had little or next to no service and just couldn’t get himself into the game.

I had hoped we’d switch to 4-4-2 at half-time, or early in the second-half, but it wasn’t until just over 10 minutes to go that we made this change, but by then, we got suckered into conceding two goals from set-plays and the game was dead and buried.

I didn’t really think we deserved to lose, but by the same token, I didn’t think we deserved to win. Derby seemed to get the basics right and better than we did and they did a perfect smash and grab by taking their chances when they came… a bit like what we did to Villa on Wednesday.

Oh well, it wasn’t disastrous and had we drawn I would have been happy with the point considering the performance. I was still pleased with Damien Stewart and Fitz Hall. In my book, good old Stewpeas has two Man of the Match performances in a week and he should be really pleased with his current form. Long may it continue.

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