Having set off early and got to Leatherhead with plenty of time for a 3.30 start, my suspicions that something was amiss was seeing players warming up off the pitch. (not our team obviously). On closer inspection they had skirts on. Quick check on the email and it should be a 3.15 start at Blenheim, ah well, with plenty of subs it should be OK. Arriving at 3.25 the game had yet to start so no damage done, other than I had been voted for TFC and the team had no subs.
I missed the team talk but can guess it was get the ball wide. I took my role of TFC properly and along with most of the team managed to pass to the opposition too often but my mistakes are obviously more visible.
The game was mainly us dominating possession, hitting the ball at their keeper, not stopping crosses into the D but we were good at getting the ball back. Their defence made Adam look like a good player as he went through the oppo easily putting in many good crosses.
Cheam scored first though a testosterone fuelled Caggers (must have had a bad week) was questioning the validity of the goal having witnessed a ball hitting their foot.
A quick reply saw Grant tap in a goal at the far post. I think our next was a quickly taken long corner by Carlos to an unmarked Chris in the D who slapped it in.
Cheam replied by their CF going around three cones to score – it seemed that way as the defence were fairly static.
We improved later in the half scoring one short corner and another by ? so 4-2 up at half time.
The opposition defence in honesty were slow and old and without subs they were going to struggle against the non-stop running of our midfield. Their occasional sorties were snuffed out mainly by Dave E, with his low flat stick tackling. Caggers decided to ignore there captains half time talk of move it wide and early by showing off his dribbling skills ( I am old enough to remember him playing in the forward line- he is a better player at the back).
Tactically Carlos switched Dave H. and Nick C over as the oppo did not attack down their right and the hope was to get more ball to Adam.
We continued to pour forward and at least twice goals were stolen by our goals hangers just getting the last touch on a ball already going in. One of our better ones was from their failed attacks when we went right early, crossed it early for Grant to put in again. Having fallen below the acceptable level of striking short corners we knocked one out for Carlos who dispatched it with aplomb.
Andy in goal had little to do most of the game as they also struggled with short corners. At the end of the game our captain limped off- hope it is not too serious. Team spirit remains high, as we created enough chances to score 20 and everyone is prepared to chase back and help. The umpires were fair and good so the game was a pleasant way to spend a sunny afternoon.