The opening quarter saw us looking very disjointed. Captain Thornes, orchestrating things from the sidelines, continued to encourage and eventually we realised that we were capable of keeping the ball and stringing some passes together. Suddenly, we were slicing the TPS defence open, particularly down the right hand side where Phil Caldwell was having a stormer.
It was only going to be a matter of time before we equalised, and Sam Herbert grabbed it from all of one-and-a-half inches from the goal line as the keeper fumbled a shot from Dean Marney. Full credit to Sam for following the ball in as he claimed his just reward.
We literally gifted TPS their second and third goals, with both coming from set pieces, due to our lack of tight marking. Their third was the worst as a deep free kick was headed (unopposed) back across our goal where three TPS players were queuing up, unchallenged, to poke the ball home.
Steve Spurdens pulled one back for us with a rasping close range volley, but it proved too little too late, as with 11 minutes of the 90 still showing on the referee's watch, the lights were switched off. (I have mentioned to the ref the benefit of playing till 10pm as opposed to hoping we can have a 90 minute match - which unfortunately never happens).
Overall we were the architects of our own demise last night and so I have no complaints about the defeat. We know we can all do much better, and we must lay this bad team performance to rest tomorrow when we welcome Sporting Brixton for a bonus FA Cup Final day match.
Captain Thornes awarded the MOTM to Neill Robertshaw for a solid display at the back.
Keep the faith!
Joe
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