Milburn 1 - 3 Lombard Phoenix
Miles Cadwallader, 19 January 2006 18:46
15th January 2006 @ 10:30
- Friendly
As there was no competitive fixture this week, a friendly was
arranged against our old friends Milburn. I would like to say a big
'thank you' on behalf of everybody at Lombard to Jimmy
(Milburn's Secretary) for arranging the whole
thing and refereeing the game without asking for a
penny towards the costs.
With Steve, Alex and Tom the only 1st team absentees, we were
able to field a strong side and it showed as Lombard had the better
of the early possession. However, although we had a lot of the ball
in our own half, the lone striker system we had employed was not
working and we had no attacking options. It wasn't long before
adjustments were made and we switched back to a traditional 4-4-2,
and the improvement was immediate as Billy and James linked up
well, with the latter finding the back of the net with a cool
side-foot finish on about the half hour mark. It should be
mentioned though, in the interests of trying to keep these reports
as unbiased as possible, that Milburn should of had a penalty long
before we took the lead when Chris spilled a ball and then
blatantly wrestled Milburn's Ben Burton to the ground to stop him
scoring. It was a nailed on spot-kick and should
also have been a sending off for the red-faced Lombard goalie,
but fair play to Jimmy who, in the spirit of keeping things
friendly, waved play on. After the goal Lombard continued
to keep control of the ball and held out until half-time
with a comfortable 1-0 lead.
The 2nd half saw the quality of play deteriorate slightly as
both teams tired. I feel Lombard were still playing the better
overall football, but it was not a game for the purists, with
scrappy passing and tired mis-timed challenges causing the game to
descend into a stop-start affair. About 15 minutes into the
half Lombard doubled their lead when Colin struck from the edge of
the box. To be honest the shot was fairly weak and almost
straight at the keeper, but we all know that if you don't buy a
ticket you won't win the raffle, so well done to Colin for having a
go and getting the benefit of some poor keeping. Milburn did get on
the score-sheet before the end when some comically bad play between
John, Shevy and Rob in our left-back area gave the opposition the
ball in a dangerous position. The resulting attack was defended
poorly and when the ball fell loose to Milburn's 'Binksy' on the
edge of our box, he struck an excellent finish into the top corner,
giving Chris in goal no chance. To be honest, we had taken our foot
off the pedal at this stage and got a bit cocky and, luckily, this
goal sparked us back to life again. The closing stages of the game
resulted in some improved Lombard play and a few chances which we
should of made more of. At one point we broke with 3 men
against Milburn's lone defender, but James' refusal to play an
early pass meant that it came to nothing which was highly
irritating to say the least. Milburn too should of been reduced to
10 men this half when James went clean through and was deliberately
taken down from behind. But given the nature of the game
nobody wanted to see a card. The poor sod broke something in the
challenge anyway - we wish him a speedy recovery. Proceedings
were wrapped up in the closing minutes when Sean cut in from the
right and hit a low shot through the keeper's legs and into the
back of the net to make it 3-1 Lombard which is how it
remained.
Manager's Verdict
This had a very casual feel about it so it was difficult to
judge how good our performance actually was. I was very happy with
the general quality of passing (from most, but not all of the
players) and I feel we must have had about 60% possession or better
which is good going. However, we are still slow to get up and down
as a unit and very basic individual errors cost us our clean
sheet and should of cost us an early penalty and sending-off too.
Had this been a competitive game I am hoping we would of been more
professional and focused at times and won by a bigger margin, but
had Milburn taken the lead and Chris been sent off, then who knows
what would of happened........
Starting Line-Up: 4-1-4-1
Formation
Chris
Stu John Rich Shevy
Ant
Ekow Miles
Colin Sean
Bill
(Rolling) Subs: James, Rob
Referee: Jimmy
Vigh 10/10 - could of sent off 4 players in all but kept it
sensible and friendly
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