A decent performance was overshadow by a controversial 3-2 defeat to afc terriers.
Whilst referees unduly get blamed for a bad results, on this occasion the referee deserved any criticism coming his way. Three disallowed goals and blatant last minute penalty were all missed.
In a tightly contested first half all most all of the chances fell to ourselves, Searing with the first clear cut chance beating the Terrier right back for pace before firing a powerful shot directly at the keeper who did well to parry away for a corner. Coker then had the first of two goals disallowed headed past the keeper only for the goal to be cancelled out for offside, in reality this was a tight call and could have gone either way. On 35 minutes we took the lead, Searing and hall linked well, searing clipping a ball into the box which was met by coker who's header bet the keeper 1-0. A minute before half time a second headed Coker goal was ruled out this time for an alleged shirt pull, something both the defender and the refferee later admitted had not happened, this was a key turning point in the game, to have gone in 2-0 up at half time would have almost certainly killed the game off.
Second half began with a rush of three goals from the hosts, the first goal came when unusually rodriguez lost the ball in a bad area, the ball was played forward to Terriers number 9 who smashed the ball into the top corner from just outside the area 1-1. A controversial second goal followed, Green was fouled 35 yards from goal although the referee played on leading to another goal struck from outside the area, a really strange decision as there was a clear foul during the build-up 1-2. A third goal arrived 10 minutes later, Wilkinson who otherwise had a fine game at right back got caught on the ball, the terriers duly completed it his hatrick firing in from the edge of the area of the inside of the post having turned and beaten centre backs gunnell and ebberson 1-3. To our credit we never gave up and worked really hard in the last 20 minutes, unfortunately are only reward was a goal from James hall with 10 minutes remaining 2-3. We did come close towards the end with gunnells flicked header going just wide and a couple of other close attempts, in the last 10 seconds the terriers handled in the area, to everyone’s disbelieve no penalty was awarded, in the follow up Roberts header went straight at the keeper.
Lads i have rated everyone subjectively based on performances today, i am trying to do it as fairly as possible and have added a few comments as to why i have given that rating, i intend to use this when making decisions on end of season awards.
Chris Summers - 7.5(star man) - assured performance, dealt with everything very comfortably, no chance with any of the goals.
Simon Hawken - 7 - played well out of position, struggling with illness replaced on 55 minutes.
Sam Green - 7 - solid performance on competitive debut, looks to be a good addition to squad.
Pete Ebberson - 7 - Did all of what was asked of him, good attitude as always playing out of position for team.
Matt Gunnell - 7 - Organised defence well, won a number of key headers and interceptions.
Jonny Piercey - 7- worked hard in front of back four, as a team didn’t get him on the ball enough in attacking positions.
Jason Douglas - 7 - solid performance in front of back 4, did simple things well, another good addition to squad
Javi Rodrigeuz - 6.5 - good first half, struggling with an injury in second half, error lead to equalizer.
Paddy Searing - 7 - worked hard for the team, created several opportunities, on another day would have scored a hatful
James Hall - 7 - Took goal well, a few more games and we will start to see best off him
Ryan Coker - 7 - One a number of flick on’s, unlucky to not score 2 or 3 goals.
Subs
Tom Wilkinson - 6.5 - linked well with searing in later stages of the game, encouraging performance blotted only by mistake for goal
Dave Roberts - 6 - little time to make an impact, always difficult as a defensive minded player to come on when chasing a game.
Matt Burton - 6 - Little time to make an impact, unfortunately turned out to be last appearance for club as he has requested a transfer.
