Something rotten in Crofton . . .

. . more like.


















A decent enough pitch and a bright but bracing midwinter's day should have seen 'the boys' in their prime. In reality the game exposed Fleece reserve's underbelly - plenty of bite but little cohesion and up against a Crofton team that had the edge in most departments.
Fleece were maybe complacent after a few had served well in the first team last week and the week previous beating highflying Jolly Miller. Fleece on the up? Not really, a reality check was due and Crofton delivered it.

Perhaps it was Fleece's lofty 9th position and 12 points over 2nd bottom and 5 points? (Now 8 points and a game in hand.) Who knows? On the day Fleece's lack of organisation was clear and basic mistakes let them down, in fact they were lucky not to go down to double this score.
If Crofton had been dialled in earlier they had had plenty action through on goal. Ok, so there was some dogged defending but as many missed chances.

A short summary -

Fleece - complacent, sloppy passing, few effective challenges at the 50-50 ball, mostly static and seemingly not hungry enough for the win. In fairness, there was the odd few moments of flowing football. But few. If it wasn't for the bit of battle displayed by most then this could have been quite embarassing

Crofton - If honest, more or less the exact opposite of the Fleece. Although, hunger gave way to some measured football but plenty of bursts through on goal to keep an occasionally haphazard defence on the hop. And lots of running into space and a reasonably well marshalled defence.

Croton 2 Fleece reserves 0.

Something to work on for Wednesday.

Fleece Reserves were -

GK - Tony Simpson,
Defence - Craig Kellett, Mark Bowden, Dale Shaw, Nicky Stevens,
Midfield - Matt Fox, Shaun Kellett, Paul Ingham, Graeme Hardwick,
Upfront - Andy Sugden, Paddy McGarry.

Subs used - Neal Barlow (for C. Kellett)
Simon Kelly (for M. Fox).

Ta for the nosh.