Caedelyn Park
Thornhill Athletic 3-4 Pentwyn Dynamos
Butler(2)
Willis (2)
Our 5th match in 10 days - and it looked like it! short on numbers and missing 4 first team regulars but we started well and were 2 nil up inside 15 mins with goals from Ryan Butler and Sam Willis. It went stale from there - either the boys thought it was going to be easy and stopped giving it 100%, or playing catch up on our fixtures is taking its toll. I believe it was somewhere in between.
Fair play to Thornhill - they sensed this and started to have a go at us - and got their rewards - it was 2-2 within 5 mins of our second goal going in!
This shook us up momentarily and we resumed playing our football - briefly- just long enough for the impressive Ryan Butler to grab his second. His first touch looked too heavy but he showed great pace to catch up and slot it past the keeper.
We switched off again and Thornhill made us pay making it 3-3 just before half time.
The second half was an exercise in 'long ball'. Thornhill bombarded us every time they got the ball - lumping it up the field and constantly putting us under pressure. The boys could not resist the temptation to 'lump it' back! We must learn that in these games you cannot get sucked into such tactics and must continue to play our football regardless.
When we did attempt to pass it the pitch didnt help. In the boys' defence this may be why we played the long ball so much as the pitch was rock solid with very little grass. We managed to secure the 3 points when the ref played an advantage - albeit in unorthodox fashion!- following a clear handball, the ball ran through to Sam Willis who poked home the winner.
We were lucky to win this one - Thornhill did enough for a point - but the cliche says good teams lose even when not at their best, so I will stay positive.
Its Thornhill again - this time at home - on Thursday and hopefully we will have our full squad back and put in a better peformance.
Special mention:
Ryan Butler - full of energy and his first goals for the club - well done Ryan!
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