Molesey Game

[Fuzzy Royal]

Okay, we can all acknowledge that wasn't our greatest performance of the season, but maybe we should step back a second and look at this more objectively.

 

First team players missing were Ben, Laza, Ellis, Day & Hicks. Also Jay was missing so you have a team that was put together on no budget at a moment's notice that has been ravaged injury and unavailability against a team that are doing quite well this season.

 

You then look at the average age and the experience of a majority of the team and also the bench, and suddenly you can see a rather uncomfortable afternoon in the offing.

 

But no, we competed and gave as good as we got; yes we were outmuscled at times (I think the goal showed their superior strength) and the cutting in by their very strong forward was followed by a very good finish that we did seem to lack unfortunately. But we didn't look like a bottom of the table team and most teams losing 4 or 5 key players would struggle considerably.

 

We had chances and didn't take them, but how often has that happened against us this season, its what happens and we learn and move on. It wasn't fantastic to watch, especially the second half, but some of the comments I heard after the game I felt were a little unfair. I have seen teams on considerably more money and with considerably more experience and pedigree not show the work rate, consistence, desire and at times quality required to compete at this level.

 

I reckon a top 5-10 finish and a B&B Trophy (I think the team will win the Trophy) and we will have had a great season. I can also see a very strong nucleus for next season, and Ed Sheeran (the pony tail guy in the middle of the park) looks like a top quality player and given us great balance in midfield.

 

At the end of the day they possibly deserved the result (well tehy scored and we didn't so they did deserve the result!!) but we can still take positive that our defence wihtout key players wasn't ripped apart by a team near the top so good for the future.

 

One final point, nice to see Ben Harris join the list of people beaten at darts by a nine year old child ;-)

[windsor_ram]

No doubt we missed all those regulars and that showed at times!! The first half we struggled defensively as molesey in my view were able to fashion to many chances, second half we seemed harder to break down, more organised, despite the fact we had a makeshift defence.

 

Yes it was by far our best display but that will give those youth team players who featured some good experience, some stood up to the physical challenge well and gave a solid committed effort and at least if they show that they you cannot really complain.

 

Moleseys keeper made some smart saves too but just did not test him enough to really trouble them. Take nothing away from molesey though they can only beat what is put in front of them and deserved the result.

 

Tuesday's game will be a good marker to see how far off we are from the genuine title challengers if we field our strongest team we could well come away with something it it will be tough either way!!

[Rother]

some of the comments I heard after the game I felt were a little unfair

 

Surely no-one who has followed the team all season could have been negative after yesterday's game? I would find that incredible.

[windsor_ram]

 

 

Surely no-one who has followed the team all season could have been negative after yesterday's game? I would find that incredible.

 

Some people are never happy rother!!!

[Fuzzy Royal]

I think the comments come from the fact that the players have performed well beyond what anyone could have expected and yesterday was disappointing compared to recent performances.

 

Honestly we probably only needed two or three key players back and the game could have gone our way. Tuesday will be interesting but the semi final will be the one, we should hopefully have Laza Jay and maybe ellis back plus any others? I am sure this is what a lot of players will be looking to now, and who could blame them. I am sure none of the current players when they came in genuinely believed they could be looking at silverware this season, and what a well earned reward it would be too.

 

Personally I think the young lads will benefit from playing and being involved in the first team and that can only benefit the club. They got to play against a well organised team and involved in a physical, but in no way dirty game. I would imagine Mick will make sure losing doesn't affect them and they look forward to progressing and maybee becoming the future first team regulars.

 

One last thing, thought the ref had a decent game, he could have thrown the cards around early on but chose to talk to the players involved and this probably led to the relatively low card count and the game not getting out of control. Without meaning any disrespect the younger players are more likely to get hot headed and do something silly, I think the ref negated that by stamping it out early and the players on both sides reacted accordingly. Other CCL refs take note, you don't need to throw cards around to show your authority, common sense can work just as well.......

[Mrs_Cat]

I must have been watching a different game to some of the people present as I thought we actually didn't play too bad at all. First half we created some good chances and on another day would have gone in at half time in the lead.

 

2nd half, although not creating many chances we did have a lot of possession and still looked dangerous, also on the plus side defensively we looked solid despite not having a single member of our usual defence playing.

 

Molesey were a decent outfit and had some good players. At times it looked like men against boys (it literally was) but the boys gave it a real go and you can't ask for more than that.

 

Again fair play to Mickey Woodham for putting together a competitive team in difficult circumstances, given the amount of players missing on Saturday we would have struggled to have put out 11 players last season.

[Rother]

I agree with every word there Mrs Cat - their 'keeper made a couple of excellent saves in the 1st half and several others that were hit straight at him.

 

Bully caught a few crosses and corners but shots...? I can remember one decent save, which was then cleared almost off the line as a Molesey attacker steamed in but that's about it apart from the cracking goal (selective memory maybe?).

 

We just missed a bit of experience and muscle.

 

But i don't mean to take anything away from Molesey who were decent.

 

Yes, the ref had a good game but no idea why he booked their player down near the corner flag late on. Not even a foul on Pearse imo.

[Windsor_Sec]

I think Mrs Cat has summed it up just about right. In the end the only real difference in my opinion was Molesey's experience and physical strength but apart from that we created chances and still tried to play our passing game despite all the changes in personnel.

The one thing we didn't have because of all the changes was an opportinuity to pack the opposition box with taller players like Kalama, Hicks, Ellis or Wright for corners/set pieces where their height and more physical presence may have presented us with more chances but you can't have what you haven't got and we got on with what we had available. I wasn't at the reverse fixture when many said we had got away with a 1-0 win so perhaps it was a fair result saturday after all !

Whatever the result we had a result of our own knowing that younger players like Gibbs, Bair and Kemp can all slot in straight away because they know the system we play and they certainly didn't look out of place. If anyone had said with a brand new back four plus others missing you'll only lose 1-0 to an experienced Molesey side I think most people would have taken that result but I guess it's a measure of just how far we've come in a short time that people were actually disappointed on Saturday.

 

Not very often I comment in public about match officials but I think Fuzzy summed the ref up right as well. He was a late appointment and is actually under-qualified as he's only Level 5 but it was only a couple of years back he was reffing us at Southern Premier level and Conference middles as well but a spell out of the game saw him effectively relegated in the ranks, all of which just proves to me you can know every law in the book but common sense and experience wins hands down every time for me - perhaps some of our up and coming young referees could benefit from watching the likes of Isaac Jempeji who, I felt, was in total control all of the time.