An Uneasy Return to Form

Watching Thursday's narrow victory from the sidelines was a sobering experience. There are still a lot of things we need to work on, but the raw materials and commitment shown have put me in a positive frame of mind.

The performance as a whole looked quite nervy and players seemed too concerned about making mistakes, but that is part of football, if you make a mistake you do your upmost to rectify it. Some performances gave me a boost in confidence for coming games. Phil at the back was solid and composed on the ball, Dave and Billy formed a good partnership in the middle, just to name a few.

It was also good to see players trying to adapt to new positions and being moved from place to place during the game (Andy D, Perre and Mes).

Players coming off believing we should have won by more is a good sign, but a win is a win. A clean sheet and a win is more satisfying to me than a 6-4 scoreline for example as this would show an attacking performance with a lack of defensive strength and teams should be built from the back to allow for flair and productivity up front.

All in all I was impressed by the reaction from all the players and hopefully this positive result will give them confidence to push on to better things.

Post-match statattack #5

After a couple of weeks during which, no matter how much I ferreted around among the stats, I couldn't for the worthless life of me find any stats worth talking about, finally this week there are a couple of 'interesting' facts.

The first is the confirmation that yes, indeed, as was mentioned in the Paxton last night, when Tremayne Macdonald scores, we always win. Three goals, three wins - he netted in a 4-1 win over Dolphin Riders and the 2-0 victory over Grafton Strollers last year, and of course was the only scorer last night as we prevailed 1-0 vs 1860 Lambeth.  So he is indeed Rushy from now on, even though 3 matches isn't quite as impressive as Rushy's seven-year-long similar run for Liverpool. Ian Rush himself recalls the night his incredible record finally came to an end here. Personally I've only ever scored one 11-a-side goal for the Accies and that was in a defeat - if I get time, I've have a look at who else has never scored in a win.  There may well be one or two others who've only scored in victories, but they'll be players who only played/scored once for us, I should imagine.  Anyway, keep it up, Rushy!

Secondly, it occurs to me that 1-0, while a very common scoreline in 'proper' footy (league football, you know, the level at which Dr Werewolf has played), especially in Arsenal games in the early 90s, it is a very rare outcome for the Accies!  Last night was only our 3rd ever 1-0 win.  (If you're interested, we've lost 1-0 five times.) 0-0 draws are even scarcer - there have been 2 out of our 197 games - and there have only been a pair of 2-0 wins.  When we keep a clean sheet, we're far more likely to score five or more goals than just the one...

Finally, a minor, vaguely interesting stat approaches: last night was our 197th 11-a-side game and also Simon Mesner's 97th appearance - so if he's ever-present for the next 3 matches, our 200th game will be his 100th.  If I get time (I won't) I ought to do a comparison of the results in the 100 games Shaky has played in versus the 100 he missed, mostly while gallivanting around the globe.

That's all for now!

Tremayne-dous! (Ouch)

For the record, Tremayne-dous was Miami's suggestion, narrowly beating 'Tremayne Man' as tonight's headline. The other headline candidate was 'Billy Do Be A Hero Again'. Ahem.

Anyway, both our ex-coach's blog below and our current coach's pre-match team talk called for a reaction to last week's abject failure and tonight's 1-0 win over old foes 1860 Lambeth delivered that reaction, by and large. Perhaps it's just as well that the margin of victory was so narrow - no one came away feeling like we're world beaters, which, for anyone with a memory of more than a few hours, we aren't, just yet.

But we are 1860 Lambeth beaters, thanks to some really good performances through the squad, with Munky's Man Of The Match star turn at centre back top of the list. My remark a couple of weeks ago (see further down the blog) that Billy is a future Accies captain was backed up tonight with our number 12 running the show in defence, really positive in his football and his talking for 90 minutes. Credit to Coach09 for putting him there - he'll surely be hard to dislodge from that position, regardless of his Golden Boot goals haul in 2008. One look at our 'goals conceded' tally for 2009 is proof that there was a problem at the back, and the clean sheet was more welcome than ever. I think I can speak for the other defenders tonight when I say that Billy's confidence rubbed off on us and we all did everything we could to emulate his performance.

Further up the pitch, we offered much more in the way of pass and move and attacking fluidity. We still struggled with our first touch at times, but there was so much more effort and application tonight than last week. We didn't have vast amounts of chances, but Shaky put Tremayne clean through with an outstanding pass, and the striker neatly rounded the keeper and slotted home from a narrowing angle. I'll have to check the stats tomorrow, but apparently we always win when Tremayne scores, so maybe his nickname shall be Rushy...

Other highlights included a fine through ball from Tremayne to Bobby, back from France for a fine cameo performance but unable to cap his night with a goal. The only lowlight was Spudgun's penalty miss following a preposterous foul on Miami. Steve would've put us 2-0 up and surely guaranteed a win, but it wasn't to be and the match stayed on a knife edge right to the final whistle. After the game, Luis knocked us all for six when he presented everyone with Peruvian footy shirts, a far-too-generous gift from his recent holiday there. Thanks top man!

A final word: I didn't see anyone getting carried away after the win, and hopefully that's because we all know the real challenge is to carry the decent form into the next game and establish some consistency. Whatever the result against MHP next week, I hope we apply ourselves at least as well, but preferably better, next time out.

Team: Ant, Elbows, Hairy Cornflake, Munky, Marathon Man (sub: Gobby), Miami (sub: Shaky), Joe, Spudgun, Thorny, Mickael (sub: Bobby), Perre (sub: Rushy)
Scorer: Tremayne

Balance and a call to arms

The tone of the blog is mostly positive and I agree with that.  However, after the first 15 minutes of last week's game, a bit of balance is required.

We were shocking and woefully inadequate.  It was like the last 6 or 7 years hadn't happened and we were back to a team just starting to play 11 a sides.  I thought days like the 1-9 v Dolphin and last week's game were confined to history.  

We were poor positionally and we carried probably 7 players in the first 20 minutes.  We were pulled apart by opposition players running in diagonals.  They are a decent team but they aren't that good.  We also conceded possession nearly every time we gained it.  They were first to every first and second and third ball.

Thank goodness we improved otherwise it would have been a record defeat.   The latter 75 minutes were a vast improvement and although they were still better, at least more of us competed and were prepared to do the hard work.

For the up coming games, I am issuing a call to arms.  There are several players not pulling their weight.  They are just doing what they want to do or not really doing anything at all.  I think that is insulting to all the other players on the pitch.  They are basically being carried by others.

There was a lot of big talk (and some divisive) at and since the AGM.  Well lets see everyone put their money where they mouths are.

I am aware that the club has semi Corinthian ideals and that for some running around for 90 minutes even if getting hammered is fine.  I don't feel like that and want to win.  To do that everyone needs to do their jobs, be brave and let their feet do the talking.

Save The Coach. Save The World.

Word reaches the Accies Blog news desk that Coach Robertshaw's broken ankle is healing faster than Claire Bennet after a particularly gruesome run-in with Sylar. Says Neill R: "Original projection was 6-8 weeks in plaster - this is now looking to be approx 4 weeks as bone has reattached and fracture has not split further but has improved against expectation." Thanks to Gemma McDaid for the above image!

Failures for 15 minutes

That's what Andy Warhol said, weren't it? No? Oh. Well, this blog might grind to a halt if we/I didn't bother posting because of Another Defeat, so in the spirit of typing for typing's sake (isn't that the basic purpose of all blogs, ever, on an internet?) I shall report on our 0-6 reverse at the hands of Atkins Rail.

The headline of this post refers to the hideous first-half spell during which we managed to ship 5 goals in 15 minutes. I found out after the game that I wasn't alone in thinking, at 0-5, that we could easily lose by a cricket score. Luckily we got our act together to some degree and, aside from a thunderous 6th goal after around 75 minutes, we at least competed, albeit with nothing to show for it in that old-fashioned yardstick of success on the footy pitch: the 'goals for' column.

The real match report was delivered by The Hut in the changing rooms post-match - while rightly awarding Shaky the Man Of The Match accolade, his summary featured the word 'depressing' more than once. And on that bombshell...

Team: Ant, Miami, Elbows, Hairy Cornflake (sub: TBALT), Marathon Man (sub: Dr Werewolf), Munky, Thorny, Spudgun, Dangermouse, Shaky, Tremayne (sub: Mickael)

Goodnight!

Hit the bar

Billy, Do Be A Hero

Firstly, sorry about the headline. Couldn't resist. Well, it started snowing in early evening tonight and by kick-off time the pitch was covered and visibility was shocking. Naturally, the game went ahead. No one at Palace had the wherewithal to come and haul us off the pitch. More fool them.

Billy FC, once again called into action at late notice, beat us 2-0 and for my money that was a fair scoreline. Their eponymous leader, defecting once again from the Accies, played a blinder at left-back - left-back! - and was suitably vocal all night, surely in the frame for Accies captaincy some year in the future.

Effra, meanwhile, lacked a certain something. Maybe snowblindness or frostbite was to blame? Whatever, I don't think we quite 'got going' tonight in most areas of the pitch. Respect due to Anthony for 2 or 3 fine saves to keep us in it, but we didn't create enough chances. By the end the pitch was looking like a hideous muddy mess in parts, possibly its own attempt to critique our performance. There were hints of what we're capable of - a superb pass from Joe here, some nice interplay between the forwards there - but too much uncertainty on the ball and, as was pointed out at half-time, we seemed scared of the oppo, which is clearly daft as they're only little boys... (no offence Bill!)

Still, it was an experience playing in a blizzard! Looking forward to seeing pics/vids of the treacherous conditions in due course.

Team: Ant, Elbows, Barry, TBALT (sub: Werewolf), Marathon Man (sub: Miami), Token, Joe (sub: Spudgun), Skipper, Tremayne, Mickael, Shaky (sub: Coach09)

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow...

Respect to the Accies that turned out in the poor weather last night on the 5-a-side pitch at Norbury. A couple of pictures attached showing the snow piled up at the side of the pitch that meant many cries of "let him get it out!" when the ball got stuck.
A great training session - enjoyed by all!

I must remember to speel chick this one or face further criticism from Editor Dade. I wonder how well he would assess a knee?

The game against Grafton Strollers gives me a chance to hark back and pay tribute to two players that were named joint man of the match the last time we played them.  That game was the penultimate game of last year and we won fairly comfortably with goals from Keith and Tremayne.

Two players that have come back from serious injury were the star performers.  Luis sustained a nasty radial head fracture (come on Stuart, where is this bone and what other bones does it articulate with?) after coming off his bike in February 2008.  He had to have two operations on it, one to fix it and one to remove adhesions that had developed, which stiffened up the joint (negligent rehabilitation Luis?).  He didn't play for nine months and had only been back in the team for two games before he rose to the fore and put in a terrific performance against the Strollers.  Not only did he pass the ball around and break up play he seemed to have a bit more stamina and zip.  Considering his lay off this was testament to his desire to get back to playing football.

The other star man was Greame Werewolf.  Amazingly Graeme has never before attracted the nickname Werewolf.  I can't wait for the first game under a full moon.  Graeme's serious injury is not as well documented as Luis' and I won't elaborate here as he may not want the details to be posted.  But the circumstances were shocking (twice) and again to return to football is a fantastic achievement.  Graeme looked assured in his performance against Grafton and for the first time for the Accies really looked the part.  I think that this game cemented his vote for entry to the club (as well as attempting to chat up Bouncy the bar maid the week before after the awards dinner!).

Hand of Mes?

3-1 V Grafton Match Highlights