Wilderspool Causeway

This, In my view, was an excellent performance; the players demonstrated grit, tenacity, elements of quality and an enduring will to win. Coach Peter was less sure. He could see there had been some improvements and a glance at his body language after Evan’s sweetly struck equalising free kick revealed a weight had been lifted after last week’s 6-0 reversal. So why the reluctance to celebrate a win? Pete is a very driven fellow – always urgent, but without particular deflation or inflation in response to circumstances; it’s likely he’ll notice a small detail, allowing it to inflect his analysis of the big picture and alter meticulous training plans. An abject performance – see last week’s report – will be met with ‘You played well in phases’; an effective performance will likewise be given a mixed review. This provides players a good foundation from which to experiment: no overreaction will meet them, at any point, the ‘hot chocolate index’ being their most reliable gauge of success. Last week, according to Pete, they were entitled to half a cup whereas this week they could have a full one. I interpret this as a pass/fail measure, all based on effort and attitude; more optimistic people might see the glass as always being encouragingly half full. I gave Evan and Ozzy full cups anyway, last week, and Evan the same this week. What would you do?

This week the performance was 100% better than last week’s, regardless of any lingering reservations. It was satisfying to see the players implement what was practised in training; they needed to cover for each other in defence, play more meaningful passes through the midfield and attack the ball with increased  purpose in each box. There were still significant lapses, with, for example, a tendency to bunch up at the near post leading to Caversham’s opening goal as their striker latched on to a looping cross with no-one around to thwart him. The defence held firm though, generally, with forward progress from Leitwolf Connor Mulvaney and Hotshot Hayden Harris leading to free-kicks in quick succession, neither of which hit the back of the net. At half-time, knowing that Evan is a good free-kick taker, I was a bit concerned that he hadn’t had a chance to take one and told him that if we’re awarded another, he should just go and pick the ball up. This proved tricky, though, because when we were awarded one he was about 30 yards from the ball. He still raced over, but Hayden was ready to shoot. Risking accusations of parental bias, I called over from the coaches’ blend line to basically tell him to take the ball. I could then see him chatting to Josh and Hayden, but all three stood in viable shooting stances so it was hard to tell who would strike. Thankfully, when the whistle went Evan jogged up to the ball and shot it cleanly around the wall and into the bottom corner. On the way back home in Pete’s car, Evan explained how he took his chance based on the goalkeeper’s incorrect positioning in relation to the defensive wall. Rather than looping the ball over the wall, he surprised the keeper  by playing it low and into the corner – a place beyond his reach. The goal caused a change of momentum in the game, with increased confidence translating to more determined attacking work. Good interplay between Connor, Josh and Evan – with the latter’s accurate balls through to the forward (rather than the impressive free-kick) leading to his Player of the Match award – led to two excellent finishes from striker Hayden Harris who had found some composure after his untamed shots last week. Defensively, Ciara stuck with superb discipline to a striker about twice her height. The issue was one of  words and their interpretation: “Pete, I keep forgetting what ‘goalside’ means!” It was true – every time we said it you could see her mentally and even verbally processing the instruction: ‘Right, so goalside means…’ and then she’d forget. However, she remembered what it meant enough times to prevent some figures much bigger than her from scoring enough times for them to win – job done, Ciara, and well done.

All in all, despite hot chocolate variables and differing interpretations – psychological, tactical and otherwise – this was, I think, an excellent performance and a deserved win, though I’d be willing to concede that alternative perspectives on the matter are potentially of equal merit.