Mens D 1 - 2 Shaheen B

An injury riddled and depleted squad due to people out of town meant that the D's fielded a side missing regular players from both the defense, midfield and forward line! On a day with the pitch temperature reaching 30 degrees it was always going to be a tough game in the midday heat against a far younger, fitter and leaner Shaheen team.

The D's started looking to quickly move the ball forward but were unable to complete patterns of play developing any early protracted possession resulting in early turnovers. An early mistake which caught the defense flat footed, and the back 3 out of position, allowed Shaheen to work the ball into the right hand side of the D and the shaheen attack was allowed to walk the ball into the goal. The goal came against the run of player and from almost zero possession and a failure of the fullbacks and halves to close down the attack. 1-0 five mins into 1st half.

The rest of the first half from both teams was a melee of midfield mistakes resulting from poor trapping and passing constant turn over's and an erratic display of "too much running on the ball" and insufficient quality trap/pass and running off the ball.

Bric showed some good runs but was closed down by shaheen preventing any distribution. Looking earlier to distribute and pass the ball might have created more chances for club!

After a month of injuries the D's skipper showed some runs of blistering pace into the D chasing the loose ball, and feeding the ball to JAson Berry who made some energetic runs chasing the ball down the wing.

Club lost stand in midfielder Craig wilkinson midway through first half due to ripping sole off his shoe, but returned after a sharp purchase from the club shop.

Back in the side for 2 weeks now, keeper luccho was kept busy all half making some key saves to keep the deficit to 1.

After a Second half pep talk from chappie the Ds came out from the blocks, Arno played his usual solid pivotal role as centre back both defensively and looking to distribute the ball on the counter. It was evident though that with players missing and players in unfamiliar positions that it was going to have be a scrap for possession and a fight for goals.

D's won there first penalty corner about 15 mins into 2nd half. Once ejected the ball was distributed right , the shot became lose, Shaheen failed to clear and was quickly picked up by bric for a well fought goal 1-1!

The remainder of the game reflected the previous 50 mins. What was evident was the spirit and desire to win but with the inconsistency of ball to stick

Skipper graham Dove kept club in the game with a smart clearance off the line with keeper luccho caught on the near post as the ball was whipped towards the spot and smashed to goal.

With Carlos suffering from his old hamstring injury and off his usual pace, club created few chances. Shaheens second goal came from a counter attack down the right and unmarked man running to the back post picking up the loose ball beating luccho man no et man no!

The last 10 mins saw a spirited club D team make efforts to create an equalizer but were just unable to get shot on goal. A late penalty corner failed to be converted. Justin Davidson received a yellow card for tripping a player off the ball and was sent off never to return. Some inconsistent umpiring failed to notice that shaheen played football for most of the game, club missing out on what might have been critical penalty corners.

the 2-1 gap remained until full time.

Some useful lessons were learned from the game, that the Ds need to slow the game pace to a manageable tempo and not rely on the cross field pass which has consistently been evident against fitter younger sides who quickly intercept the play. Too much dribbling and running with the ball being closed down, with little options to distribute. As a squad we need to trap/pass/ and move into space and above all some consolidated attendance at training to improve the basic skill set. The time to practice and fine tune skills is not either 5 mins before push back or during the first half!

The Ds play this sunday and hopefully with the return of sukum, and jason in defense, stu webb (if fit) in midfield and portly south african upfront can hopefully get a result to rekindle the title challenge.