After a tightly contested 90 minutes BBFC take a big three points against Wickhambrook to move into the top 5 places in the league. In a game which at times looked to be heading for a bore draw it was last years players player of the year Mark Bates who turned in from close range to give us the important win.
Well all in all it was far from a pretty game of football and we have definitely performed better this year but it was great to see us dig in and battle for a full 90 minutes to take a win. A good performance again from the defence limited most clear shooting chances for Wickhambrook, Rees and Wager doing a great job of getting stuck in keeping them out of the box. Driver's resurgence continued due to his new found faith in his magic gloves, with the keeper collecting loose balls and punching crosses away effectively. After last week it was good to see our defending of set pieces was improved, though Wickhambrook still looked most threatening from these positions due to their good delivery.
In the middle of the park all players had to really show 100% effort to keep up with a very fit midfield for Wickhambrook. In the first half we had to pull Phil back into midfield to match their three man midfield and it made a huge difference to the performance with Wickhambrook having far less time on the ball and not being able to break down the middle of the pitch. Shanks, Garthy and Phil did a great job second half at keeping their midfield quiet and that allowed for us to have greater possession and get more chances on goal. JJ and Sean came on second half and added to suring up the center of the pitch and battled hard in the last moments to keep Wickhambrook out of our box.
Our wide players had another great performance collectively with both flanks breaking through and providing some great balls into the box, as well as getting the majority of our goal scoring chances. Charlie and Ringo had another strong performance on the left getting forward whenever possible but also doing a good job at tracking back and stopping crosses coming in from the left. Both had chances to score as well with Charlie fancying himself for a Van Persie volley which was not far over, whilst Ringo had two chances in the second half which did not quite go to plan as excitement got the better of Ringo!
Bates and Carter had a very strong game on the right as well, taking it upon themselves to swap positions saw both players get into the game more and helped raise our first half performance. Carter came very close with a first half free kick and used his pace at the back to great affect by very little finding its way down the left for Wickhambrook. Bates had a great game both at the back and when getting forward and took his chance for the goal calmly when the ball dropped to him. Unfortunately this does mean Bates has reached his yearly lofty goal heights of one per season and therefore is banned from getting forward anymore!
Up top Flan, Austin and Phil all had periods of holding the line by themselves and all showed great commitment to chasing loose balls and putting pressure on their defence. It was this work rate in the second half especially which saw their defence start to falter and allowed us to keep long periods of play in their half. Whilst chances were few and far between for the forwards it was good to see the determination from all to work for the team.
Another week where attitude on the pitch was greatly improved and every single player worked hard throughout to battle out a difficult but well deserved victory. Next week I will not be about (what a shame I hear you say) but after the last two performancs we should be high on confidence and make sure we go at Tollgate from the off and try and make a mends for throwing away a 1-0 advantage when we played them at Gainsborough. Well done all for this week and good luck for the next!
Sir Graham Plummer
Lord of Gainsborough Manor
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