Reserves Update - 22/09/07

The lads were keen to put in a performance to welcome the new Bully arrival, and to also make up for the poor showing against Stanway in the previous game.

We were again struggling for numbers due to injuries and holiday's but were lucky enough to welcome a few faces into the squad who have been missing for some time.

We decided that we'd go a bit more defensive to see what Wivenhoe had to offer as said before picking up points is what's important and it was imperative to leave with nothing less than 1 point.

The game started brightly and unfortunately Wivenhoe took an early lead when a cross field ball was brought down by the winger who managed to get his cross over for the Wivenhoe forward to tap home at the far post.

This in recent weeks may have dented the side's confidence but in fact the opposite was the case, the equaliser was soon coming when a ball from Owens was met by KARL DELVES who slid the ball under the Wivenhoe keeper to open his account for the season.

The team were competing and working for each other better than any time so far this season, every first and second ball was met by a Melford player. So much so that the Wivenhoe team were arguing among themselves as they were becoming frustrated that they couldn't break us down.

The challenge as a manager when the team is playing well is to give a team talk at half time that gets across the good points but also to emphasize that the job was only have done. In a funny kind of way this team talk is harder to give than the one when your side is playing badly.

However, the lads went out for the second half with renewed vigor, everybody was determined that if anybody was going to score then it would be a Melford player. Cometh the hour cometh the man, a fine move finished off by new dad DAN BULL with a crisp volley into the Wivenhoe net that left the keeper standing watching the ball fly in before he could even move. Maybe it was fate that Bully was going to score, he duly dedicated the goal to his new son Tyler.

The game was far from over though, it took some resolute defending from the lads, bookings again accrued by Carl Cook and Kirk Hardy in protecting the score line.

The back four were superb marshaled by the experienced Mark Dack ans Carl Cook supported gamely by Luke Simpson and Jamie Aaron.

The Midfield five never stopped working all day and credit has to go to them for the amount of running that they did all day long.

As you can tell, myself and Mark were thoroughly delighted with both the result and the performance. The lads now know what level they need to attain each week in order to compete in this league, We will use this game as the benchmark and hopefully duplicate this performance in our future games.