Men's Reserves Player Development League Teamtalks
26 April 2008: Nomads 2 CSFC 3
Starting line up as follows:
Mark, Borat, Brendon, Mick, Cantonar, Flex, Moses, Berry, Craig, Jimmy, Kerion, Gino.
A bit of a rivalry match this weekend, with 4 ex-Brighton lads in the Nomads squad. I thought it was funny how last year's Brighton's 1st team's player of the year award receiver didn't even get a run, lol, shame.
But anyway, we started off well, and with a few unsuccessful Nomads chances, Moses dummied the ball beautifully for Kerion to tap the first goal home. We had a few little chances, the lads starting to see how shite their keeper was and the nippiness of Gino caused a few mistakes which we should have put away really. But then some shocking defensive work from our lads and they sneaked in a poor goal.
So 1-1 and things at the back don't improve when a lack of communication and a Dougie and Mark mix-up resulted in them toe-poking in another poor goal. I think communication is something the back four needs to improve, with Brendon saving Dougie and Mark's arses a few times with a cool head. We needed to bring the ball down, hold onto it and play to feet (as usual) - and we did, which resulted in a 35 yard stunner from Jimmy, curling into the top left corner and raising the boys' spirits,.... (Especially Dougie who later admitted to having a "Horn on" when that goal went in... so it must of been good lol).
Level pegging and both sides creating chances. It took a bit of balls to put us ahead through Berry sticking a leg at a Jimmy free kick, and we never really looked like we would lose it after that. Congrats to all the lads. Nice to see 3 Coastal teams at the top of their leagues. My player of the day goes to Michael Berry - showed some guts out there and did the basic stuff well instead of lobbing no-hopers all the time. Can't wait to be back, Addz
Comment on team talks at the Coastal Spirit Forum
19 April 2008: CSFC 3 Halswell 2
Report 1
Saturday's game for us was not so pretty to look at as the strong wind dictated. We did however show outstanding courage and guts playing the last 55 minutes with just 10 men against a mature and skilful Halswell side (Adam Baxter sent off for throwing the ball at a player after a bad tackle made on him). We also spent the second half into the strong southerly, yet still had the conviction to reply twice to re-take the lead, each time Halswell leveled the score. We now have scored 8 goals for, with eight different goal scorers. As for the sending off, we will not appeal it. It was harsh, but Adam has also had a booking this year already and needs to show more maturity. He was Captain at the time, as we are trying to blood him in that role. Some time suspended, watching, will do him no harm in his development. He was very remorseful afterwards but the characters in this team have not let him off. Tuesday night's training will see a team induced penalty. Should be interesting to see what they come up with. 3 - 2 win with goals to John "Sunny" Ralph, Sam "Moses" Neale and the new boy Johnnie "Irish" O'Brien. POD Gino Fortuin.
Report 2
We played an experienced Halswell team at Fortress Bexley in cold and blustery conditions. It took a bit of time to adjust to the windy conditions and keep the ball under control. We played much better footie when we kept it tight, on the deck and passed it about. We went up 1-0 to a great goal from Sunbed Johnnie (I think?) after about 20 minutes. After that a dodgy tackle from a Halswell player led to a bit of a flare-up and "an unnamed Coastal player" was issued a red card from the resulting fracas. The result was we needed to dig deep and defend our lead - with a man down - for the next 60 minutes.
We went into halftime still 1-0 up, but were at time only just hanging on, goalkeeper Mark saving a couple of great shots, including a nail biter millimetres off the line. The second half saw a little bit of a reshuffle of positions, our midfield was forced to play a little more defensively, and we turned to be facing into the wind. Halswell used the wind to attack strongly and equalised to make it 1-1, and their confidence was up. Much to Halswell's surprise, we then struck back beautifully to make it 2-1. Some great teamwork from Jimmy, Mike, Sunny and lovely finishing from Sam who was well-chuffed to put it in da back of da ole onion bag. At times we were camped in our half for long spells, we would gradually grind our way up field, only for a Halswell boot with a tail wind to hoof it back into our corners. Halswell equalised soon after, taking their extra man into the box and - finding him free - put it away. About 20 minutes to go, 2-2. Who was going to give? Gino was starting to find space and was unlucky not to convert some chances. John (aka Johnnie Irish) subbed on, and joining well with Gino and co, put away yet another goal to take us to a 3-2 lead. At the end heads were dropping among the Halswell lads, I think they realised that they had mostly squandered the wind and extra player advantage. Final whistle: an incredible 3-2 victory to the Spirit.
An old cliché but it was a great team effort: the defenders toiled away to hold out some pretty capable strikers, and the midfield and show ponies up front did bloody well in trying conditions to pass it about and put it in the net. The Halswell goalkeeper couldn't effectively use the wind and repeatedly kicked it out in the second half, so a big thanks to him for not managing to find his players! A game mostly played in good spirits, and fair play to the Halswell guys who congratulated us after the game on our 10-man effort.
A mighty victory and 3 out of 3 for the PDL team. We march on.