After a hard fought 120 minutes of football Black Boy FC bow out of the McNeill cup losing 4-2 in extra time to Division 1 Westbury.
In truth the result really could of gone either way over the duration of the match and despite losing I have no real complaints that can be made about the performance, but several positives that we can build on to see the season out and push for the Division 2 title. After a bit of a gap, with no training for two weeks and last weeks game being called off, this week was always going to be a tough game for us on a cold wet day against a team sitting mid table in Division 1. We started the game slightly slow and struggled to get the ball down, but we defended well and prevent Westbury getting an early goal. Westbury clearly looked dangerous on the counter but the back four did a great job of holding the line and making some great tackles to stop any 1 on 1 chances. We started to work our way into the match with Mark and Flan finding pockets of spaces down both wings. We always looked like we would create chances when attacking as their defence seemed weary of our attacking play. The midfield and Phil did a great job in the centre of the pitch of putting themselves about and battling hard to not allow Westbury time on the ball. Unfortunately Westbury grabbed a goal shortly before half time direct from a free kick which seemed to just ghost its way through everybody and bounce in at the back corner. Unfortunately defending set plays has become a weakness of ours since Christmas and is something that everyone is going to have to make a concious effort to improve over the next 4 matches.
After half time the game continued to be a tightly fought contest with chances going to either side, however Westbury doubled their lead after 15minutes with a goal sneaking in at the post. We made two changes straight after the goal and decided to go all out attack to try and redeem something from the match. In truth from this point on we dominated the match and Westbury could not keep the ball for longer than 3-4 passes before we got the ball and attacked again. Phil and Charlie were causing their backline endless problems whilst the midfield were winning almost all 50/50 balls and helped pin Westbury in their own half. We finally got the goal we deserved when Chris Wager's cross/shot went across the face of goal and in at the back post. The goal just added fuel to the fire and we continued to press Westbury hard and they were becoming very anxious on the ball and seemed fearful of an upset. With about 10 minutes to go we levelled the match when Charlie broke free of the defence and calmly tucked the ball passed the keeper.
In extra time unfortunately luck seemed not to be on our side. Westbury scored early on after three of our players going for the same ball clattered into each other and the ball fell to a Westbury player who managed to sneak a ball past Driver where there appeared to be no gap. We did not give up though and despite being tired we kept working hard and nearly equalised when a great cross from Pete found Phil who headed the ball hard and low into the corner, only for the Westbury keeper to make a superb save to keep them in charge. The rest of extra time saw chances again for Pete and Phil but the ball seemed to always just be 1 yard too far or bounce the wrong way, then Westbury wrapped up the result with a class finish over Driver and into the bottom corner.
This was a superb team performance and one that everyone should take huge positives from. To come from 2-0 down and get to 2-2 in the second half against a Division 1 side shows exactly what we as a squad can do if we battle 110% and don't give up on ourselves. We have 4 matches left in the league and to win the title we have to win all 4, if we play with the aggression and determination we did this weekend I have no doubt that we deserve to win the league. But, we have got to deliver it. This weekend we are at home at Beck Row, lets turn up with the same desire we showed second half Saturday and make sure we put ourselves in the best position possible to win the league by getting a solid victory.
He's Not Heavy, He's My Plummer
Christmas No.1 2012
