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Your Coach’s view on our excellent League win!

“What if we were fit” ???

But if we did have that little bit more gas in the tank we could have won it without dropping points !!

Here’s some game reviews from Lancaster weekend onwards.

So, Lancaster Weekend 13 / 14 November.

Manchester first up on Saturday.

We strangled them. Played without the holidaymaker, went 2 – 0 up - both Craig goals – and kept the ball and didn’t ball watch. 2nd Qtr  kept playing the same with Cray stopping shots and me watching their confidence drop. A sneaky Penalty by Craig above Ed’s head meant we went 4 – 2 up by they came back to level it 4- 4. The game wasn’t a pretty one – a goggles on type of game – Ed keeping them in it – us creating real chances. They didn’t offer much tactically and come the end we won 7- 4 with Craig slotting just the 5 and Mesh 2. In hindsight they beat themselves. They’d watched us turn over Lancaster and produce a miracle comeback v Cheltenham at L’boro & then kept telling Craig how brilliant Central were at training, the following week !!!

The  seaside sights of Morecambe that evening glowed brightly. Too brightly for some and the bleary eyed team made their way to the pool for the Pingu’s on Sunday.

A googles on 1st qtr ended 0 -0 ! Another game for the purists but not the fans. 2nd qtr turned in a 5 – 3 lead but whilst we were comfortable in the game they kept pegging us back. I never felt we were likely to lose the game but we couldn’t shake them off. 7 – 5 up at the start of the 4th and they clawed their way back into it with some unusual shots and goals from strange shooters – A classic “let him shoot, let him shoot” and then a goal ! They got it back to 10 – 10 with 3 mins to go and they had better chances to win but we hung on. We slightly ran out of steam toward the end but I think the jolt did us good and knocked out some complacency in us. Our scorers were Craig 3, Mesh 3 Dan 2, Lewis & Brad 1 each

Guildford

2 games on the Saturday only. The holiday maker still away. First the local ones Cheltenham. They aren’t the best advert for coaching by committee – they have 3 of them doing it – and their performances vary from top draw to knicker draw. But did they come out fighting 1st Qtr. They were definitely creating more chances, getting more kick outs, and running the game. Except…………. They’ve got the third best keeper in Bristol – your coach is rated as second ! – and we have the best keeper !!! Crayfish was on fire. We were 2 – 0 up and Cray had even stopped a penalty !! We really did look like we were still in warm up mode. The captain made little impact – 3 majors early doors – and it took us til halftime to start playing at 90%. The effect of Crayfish stopping everything was twofold – They lost confidence in shooting & we started countering much much harder . The second half was a blur  - we just loaded the pressure on and they couldn’t cope. The last qtr started 7 – 4 and then they capitulated. I got the whole team involved and we ran out 15 – 6 winners. More West Country dominance then !

Lancaster later that day…………

Referees haven’t influenced many of our games this year – or had any great effect until now………………. We continued as we left off v Cheltenham. Soaking up their outside shooting – getting Burgess out on 3 early – and making good use of some clear kick outs for holding – decisions not normally called on Lancaster – and we went 4 -0 up. Decisions were going OUR way for once. Halftime we were 7 – 2 up. I said we need to keep the pressure on, avoid complacency and look out for charity decisions by CF & BL. We dropped off the pace a little in the third and they got to within 4 of us. And then the charity kicked in. 4 attacking fouls against us  ! in a row ! made me explode. They scored on 3 of them to get back to 1 goal. A card coloured rouge came my way, midway through the 4th – Craig picked up game misconduct. Then CF gave a Lancaster kick out and a very nervy man up goal got us to 10 – 8. Game over. I stormed over to Hargreaves to say in front of everyone “ I going to  reduce our entry fee next year by CF’s  expenses after that  display – Steam was coming out my ears- could you guess !!!

We worked it out that a draw v Manx or 2 points v Pingu’s at Bath and we could clinch it.

At this point, I can now say : - Training has been variable in quality for over a month. Practice game v Welsh good – general training at Uni and B South p*ss poor. And no f**ker went swim training – bar Manio.

I was sure the big self – destruct button was going to be pushed at Bath…………………..

So Bath Uni  - the final weekend. First up was Manchester.

We didn’t have the good doctor – at some conference in Verbier – and Craig was missing. Add in our variable quality training regime and I was a worried coach. I thought as a confidence booster I’d  call up all action  Sherman. In fact I lured him……………….. and he took the bait ! We even had some supporters from our club and other local teams ! We started out like previous games by being careful with possession and avoiding little blokes marking big blokes and putting the Sherman on C/F. They scored a neat outside shot but nothing else got through and Stu equalised. We had a tougher period in the 2nd   but up pops Sherman in the wing on man up to slot one away !!! He had a one on one later that qtr but his cranky lob action let him down !!!  but we  struggled to set up close to goal but we must have had 3 clear cut shots from the c/f and Mesh was a little unlucky. They finished the qtr 3 – 2 up but they were fortunate to be a goal up. We regrouped and started much better in the 3rd ,  turned the screw  and went from 3-2 down to 7 -4 up. Goal of the game came from Mesh with his c/f lob over Ed which sent the crowd – and me ! – wild ! Johnny captain weighed in with 2 and Stu got another.

I was getting excited thinking we were this close to winning it. The 4th was pretty much the same as the others. We kept control and they offered limited threat. Stu scored to get his hat trick and we kept squeezing them . They scored near the end to make it 8 – 6 but it was ours !!!! Greg – my real assistant coach when he turns up – said he couldn’t understand how we were top of the league until seeing us v Manchester. It was probably our best team performance of the season.

For once we celebrated quietly – a couple in the pub with our extensive fan base !!!

We played Pingu’s on Sunday morning and it looked like we’d barely had a drink as we raced to a 5 – 0 lead. We come up against them in the Brit Champs and I wanted a real tough game, but they were at times woeful  - But,   It was still  the proverbial champagne W Polo all the way up to a 13 – 4. The holidaymaker suggested that if we got 3 more goals we’d win the G Difference title. That didn’t quite happen as we freewheeled downwards to a 15 – 10 win  with some 1 on 1 misses and spin lob attempts !!

When it comes down to it though, Whilst the season and general play hasn’t been vintage, I definitely think we were the best team. And I mean ‘team’ – Everyone contributed – from Ed’s debut season to Lewis’s one legged season, to Mesh’s c/f play to Crayfish in goal to Hutch’s key goals to Dr Dan’s outstanding hard work.

But a coach shouldn’t rest on his laurels and ever feel complacent.

Finally, to those that played well done. You deserved it. I expected a rollercoaster but got a fantastic climb to the top !!!

It’s been emotional !

Your chuffed coach !!!