Effra 3 Grafton 2

In what was certainly a game of two halves tonight we went from controlled, passing, domination in the first half to scrapping and fighting for every ball in the second.

The first-half saw us play some of our best football in recent memory, and despite falling a goal behind after Grafton scored from their only shot on target in the first period, we stuck to our game plan and played our way back in to the game as we took a 2-1 lead in to the half-time break.

Two quick-fire first-half goals, one from the ever-willing Mesner (who now has 11 in 11 games), and an excellent lob from the irrepressible Heath, meant that the half-time team talk was a much easier affair for me in my first game as Coach for 2010.

Trying to juggle 5 substitutes during the course of the game soon took its toll during the second half and the game became much more disjointed from our perspective. That said, when we were required to dig in and defend under pressure we did so admirably.

The two goals we conceded both came following lapses of concentration in my opinion. The good news in this regard is that this is the kind of thing we can work towards eradicating over the coming weeks.

Herbert added a third goal for us in the second-half with a salmon-like leap to meet a Mesner corner. By this stage I was feeling very confident that the win was there for taking, and so it proved to be, although only just!

I can't praise you all highly enough for your willingness to listen to what was being asked of you, and also the enthusiasm that you all showed tonight, even when a number of you were asked to play out of position.

There are a huge amount of positives to take forward from tonight in to next week. In particular, if we can work on re-producing our first-half display more consistently then we will achieve victories in style much more often!

Everywhere I looked on the pitch tonight I saw players doing their absolute best, be it Were on the left wing, Rainey in the middle, Caldwell at right back, Robertshaw in goal, Spurdens on the right wing, every single player put in a great shift and we earned our just rewards. Herbert won the MOTM award, but there were a number of players who ran him very close indeed.

Thanks to you all for making tonight such an excellent performance, and not to mention a very well deserved victory!

Keep the faith!

Joe