Match report 04/10/14 Old Wilsonians IV vs Old Tiffinians II

Nightmare!

Time spent finding a bare eleven – 43hrs 11mins
Time spent travelling to and from the game – 5hrs 2mins
Time spent allowing 8 goals past us – 1h 30mins

With the Tiffs support packed into its seat we were off…

Except two of us weren’t as they were running late… So we started with 9 men:

Formation – one, three, four, one

5 mins in and we were up to 10 men:

Formation – one, three, four, one, one

22 mins in and we were up to 11 men:

Formation – one, three, five, one, one

24 mins in and our first injury took us back to 10 men

Formation – one, three, five, one… And there we stayed… ish…

The good news was that at this point we were still hanging on in at 0-0. AND most importantly, had good spells of  possession and on a couple of occasions looked like we might be dangerous –  admittedly not as dangerous as Old Wilsonians – but we had chances.

I’m not going to describe all eight of their goals… Firstly because the coloumn inches would stretch too far and secondly… Well… It’s difficult to remember all of them!

For the first 30 mins or so we looked solid, took good control of the  possession we had and didn’t give much in the way of chances. Fitness was going to be a problem in the final 30 mins as we were working hard to maintain the balance and as the oppo surged forward with eight players we chased well to ensure the breakthrough didn’t come for them, but we were looking to hold out and nick something on the break.

And then it came. 1-0. But like buses… Suddenly it was 3-0. A calamitous and expensive 15 mins.

Half time was about solidity, ensuring time on the ball… Looking for the easy ball, defending with 11 – I mean 10 – players… The second half started well. Again, we closed down, remained organised, took our possession slow but sure. For 20 mins, we looked like we might just get back in the match… And then they put 5 past us.

8-0

Next game please… Who needs the cup?!