The season is flying through rapidly now as we start the home straight of fixtures meaning we met Westwood again. Their season has been mixed so far but there’s no doubting the talent in the side. This is a game that Saints need to raise their performance for to stand any chance of winning.
The team started in the usual formation of 1-1-3-1 with Reiss (still recovering from flu) and Abhishek as subs. The only difference today was the fluidity of Cameron and Joe’s roles in the middle of the park. Both are probably the fittest in the team and the idea was for one to hold whilst the other pushed on. This worked pretty well and I’m proud of both players for understanding the requirements and doing a great job.
The game kicked off and unlike the first encounter, there was no early goal for Saints. Westwood have been practising their defending and have become a rock solid outfit. However, not deterred, the Tigers passed and moved, pushed and probed to find a way through. At the back , Ethan looked assured and the midfield of Jake, Sam, Cam and Joe were effective. Tom up front was holding the ball well again but wasn’t being utilised by his team mates as much as Bennett would have liked.
Anyway, Saints won a number of corners but were unable to make them count. This gives us something to work on at training on Monday!
Despite being 0-0 at halftime, the game was entertaining for all and enjoyable to watch. The Westwood keeper was the busier of the two and made some important stops to keep his side level.
The second half proved more of the same although Westwood were now attacking more freely. At times, their dangerous centre forward tore through our midfield and defence leaving the Tigers crowd silenced in dread. It would be fair to say that for the rest of the game, this outlet proved effective for Westwood as Tigers never got to grips with Nat up front.
Going forward, the Tigers again forced a number of corners and this time the Westwood keeper made some remarkable saves. From Tom, Joe and Sam, at point blank range, showed the Tigers were going to have to produce something special to win this.
Defensively, Westwood were cutting through and Adam was the busiest he has been for a number of weeks now. On each occasion though, he proved up to the task and kept his side in the game.
The game continued like this but in the last minute, Tigers were breaking forward. Tom played a lovely one two with Sam and if he had managed to control the return pass, he would certainly have made the keeper work. Tom, Sam – great play!
Overall, Cameron was immense once more with Joe and Ethan also putting in solid performances. Abhishek is now gaining in confidence and his control and running with the ball are noticeably improving. Reiss can still unlock a defence with his sublime passing and Sam and Tom are dangerous when running at players. Adam’s kicking is pin point accurate and his handling is back to its best. However, MOTM went to Jake today for his dangerous corners that posed so many problems for Westwood to defend against.
MOTM - Jake