First points dropped

A result that hurt at the time but in retrospect was fair and provides us with a new base of learning. We were playing the 2nd placed side, it was away and we retain a 4pt lead of the league. However it was our own performance that will give us much to work on in training. Our strength has been our passing game and our tempo, Marden matched us in terms of physicality, a fit side who kept going for the full 70 mins. Therefore the boys (all 10 of them) were pressurised on the ball and had less time than perhaps they had grown accustomed to. We started slowly and our passing was particularly poor with many misplaced and our speed of thought around where the next pass was seemed not to exist. We went 1-0 down and deservedly so. However we did not panic, dug in and began to piece together elements of strong play. Our equalizer demonstrated this, a tackle in central midfield by Finn, a quick release to Toby who ran at pace and delivered a ball of real vision to George in the circle, one touch and a clinical finish into the bottom left corner.
Half-time arrived and we re-grouped, made some tactical changes and began to look more assured. The boys won a short corner and a quality injection by Tommy gave the old, balding receiver the time to slot a strike past the Marden defence. The game continued to yo-yo and Marden's centre forward was lively and credit goes to Scott in goal for making a string of high quality sides. A speculative cross from the right undid us and found its way to the back post for a tap in to ensure the game was drawn.
The debrief afterwards was honest and accepted by the boys, however this is a group that has a great attitude and we will rebound strongly. 3 more league games and the boys do not intend to give up their unbeaten run. Thank you to Joey for stepping in to umpire at the last moment (a fair but firm umpire), to Saeed for acting as our Manager and running the sideline for me and to Trevor for filming the game and providing the half-time refreshments for the team.