With Joel and Chris given an extra week off things looked a bit shakey as Gary and Bill withdrew late with injury leaving Kyle to go in goal (nice one) and Nathan as a lone sub. There was need to worry as we set about our business from the off.
Within 5 minutes Ryan forced a corner fom a fierce freekick. Lee attacked the near post as per the drill and back heeled Ollie miscue to Chippy who fired home through a crowded 6 yard box. At 1-0 we were rampant in possession but were found wanting in front of goal. We had to wait until the 20 minute mark to double our lead when Steve was in at the start and end of a sweeping passing move down the left involving Ryan, Kim, Sam and Ollie - Steve coolly slotting home to make it 2-0. It was deja vu 15 minutes later when a similar move down the left saw Ollie cut inside to latch onto SAms lay off and to slot home from close home to bag our third.
With half time approaching Kim went on one of his head down rampages and was upended as he entered the box. He took and converted the resulting penalty himself giving the 'keeper no chance making it 4-0 at the break.
Steve withdrew with injury at the break - a pity as he'd chipped in with a neat goal and was knitting the left hand side together for us. Ryan was pressed higher up and Nathan slotted in at left back. The half time question was could we push on and really make a statement? The answer looked like "yes" when immediately after the restart Ollie was released one on one with the 'keeper but he couldnt find the finish.
A number of missed chances followed and a general casualness crept into our play. Frustration led to dissent in the ranks and Abacus sensed that we'd gone off the boil and could smell a way back into the game. They started to press us all over the pitch and we were unable to regain our earlier momentum so we spent much of the last 30 minutes on the back foot. Their first goal came when we failed on the THIRD attempt to clear our lines, the second was conceded in similar circumstances and the third from a direct freekick conceded on the edge of the 18 yard box.
We are still playing our way into the season and bedding in new players so its important to take one game at a time and to keep winning - whilst we're doing this we have to consider where we can improve. Misfiring in front of goal is not an issue as we're winning and anyway we believe form is temporary but class is permanent. We've got class and it will tell in the end. HOWEVER we have to accept and learn quickly that not every attacking phase of play can or will lead to a goal so we have to stop forcing the final pass - "killer balls" are rare beasts so dont try to find one with every pass.
At the moment our approach play is good but trying to force an opening is resulting in quick breakdown leaving us vunerable to the counter whilst we are all out of position - this places an impossible workload on a midfield that has to cover too much ground, too quickly for too long. It is no surprise that in the Roding game and in this game we have faded badly in the second half with the back three finding cleared balls not sticking up top and coming straight back. Note in the Grange game the introduction of fresh,quality, second half, midfield legs (Josh) galvanised us so we turned in the sort of second half performance we've been looking for.
The ball has to stick/be held up at the top end whilst the team joins as a unit and we wait/work for our openings. The goals which come from sweeping moves have a natural rhythm which generally start from the back- you will see this at Man U/Chelsea etc - it is not possible to continually gather this momentum from forced passes in the final third so we have to be more patient and clinical.
It was disapointing to concede 2 dissent related yellows in a match we were winning and we have a mandatory code of conduct to implement which means that Ryan and Sam have to miss at least the first half of next weeks game - this is a direct result of the leagues and Countys letters of concern about last seasons poor conduct record. Longer bans will follow for any further dissent related infringements.
MOM this week was Neil who played with commitment, drive and simplicity and who did very little wrong.
