Rubery Juniors U15 ML 2 vs 1 Hampton Reds U15

Today we visited Rubery in search of our first win of the season, but standing in front of us was a team with a habit of winning, having been promoted as division 6 champions last season.

On a nice sunny lunchtime with a pitch full of grass, perfect conditions for a game of football.

The game had a very even feel to it from the start, with both sides cancelling each other out. From minute 1 the referee gave a free kick for a soft nudge and that set the tone of what we had in store for the next 70 minutes. Soon enough, a bizarre penalty award for what looked like absolutely nothing. To be honest, both the opposition manager and I were surprised along with their Lino as we all thought he’d given another soft free kick. Anyway, justice prevailed when our man Harrison got down to his left and saved the penalty, with their follow-up lashed over the bar. Well done Harrison! I had hoped this would kick some life into the Reds as we were very stop start, not protecting the ball enough and giving possession away - then not pressing with enough aggression. A lovely ball from Dawson set Fin free, and he struck it sweet but it went agonisingly past the far post. Our defence were called upon again when Rubery managed to work the ball into the box and with the goal at the strikers mercy, Kielan put his body on the line with a fantastic block. No clear-cut chances in the half then and we came in at half time 0-0.

But for 2 moments of class from Harrison and Kielan, we were fortunate not to be behind, as Rubery had the confidence to try and play the ball where we were weak in the tackle and lacked the aggression required when moving forward.

The second half started well for Hampton, playing on the front foot but the few chances we had didn’t hit the target/test the keeper. Then we had a sucker punch, the Rubery winger crossed the ball but it flew over into the far top corner. A bitter blow for Harrison as again he’d looked very assured so it took a fluke to beat him (much like last weeks OG). Again, I hoped this would kick Hampton into gear, but we had no urgency. We were winning free kicks and it was like we were trying to slow the game down ourselves, allowing Rubery to reset and never getting them under pressure. We would fall 2-0 down when Rubery got the ball into the box and it was cleared, with their striker getting a toe on the ball and it looping over Harrison and into the net, despite Ollie’s best efforts of trying to keep it out.

Collectively, Hampton still had no urgency, we played like a team of strangers, only reacting when the ball was within 10 yards of players. We weren’t anticipating the through balls and when we did get the ball, we held onto it for so long that we ended up going back towards our own goal far too often. A lifeline came when a scramble in the box allowed Fin to get a shot off which somehow found its way in off the post… deserved? I’m not sure, but we were back in it. This did seem to boost Hampton, with 15 minutes left there was plenty of time… but with the game being stop-start due to the ref, we couldn’t shift that momentum enough to grab the equaliser… our best chance coming when Omar got through on the left and pulled the ball back, where several players swung at it but it was Ruberys turn to put bodies on the line and they cleared. We couldn’t muster up another clear chance and the game finished 2-1.

A very disappointing afternoon as I was expecting a lot more this week after we battled so well against top opposition last week, but we never hit those battling levels collectively. There were some outstanding individual performances, with Harrison brilliantly saving a pen, Salmeen again top class alongside Kielan, and the full-backs Ollie/Sanders/Harry P playing well and Dawson his usual battling self. We really need to find our attacking mojo again, to support the efforts of our defensive display.

MOTM went to Rayyan who battled hard and worked his socks off, another who deserved more today, well done Rayyan.

We will be working hard on Thursday to try and get our attacking players firing and we’re at home next week against a side who have one of our former players.

I really hope the lads can get some fire in their bellies and turn up ready next week… we need to start performing at the level that we have seen in patches so far this season.

UTR

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