Southgate County 2 - 7 Old Parms

Southgate County IIs 2 v 7 Old Parms
(Mason, Urul)

Southgate IIs first real friendly started and ended in disappointing fashion but there were plenty of positives to take from the game.

With most of the team at the club a couple of hours before kick-off to watch the football we should have been better prepared for the start. However we didn’t even have 11 men on the pitch when Parms scored from kick off…not a good start. A combination of us being slow to get sorted but also some over eagerness from the opposition and referee to start the game earlier than scheduled. Despite this we settled into a decent rhythm and were passing the ball around well; Mason showed good pace to beat his man a couple of times and Miloshi had a couple of decent shots from distance. It was an even game but then, after 25 minutes, we shot ourselves in the foot and made a mistake at the back to hand Parms a second goal. 5 minutes before half time we had a corner but Parms broke at pace and finished well for 3 v 0.

A disappointing score-line at half time and although Parms had been the better team it wasn’t completely one-sided; all their goals were preventable from our point of view. We spoke about the positives at half time and about cutting out the stupid mistakes.

We started the second half well and put together some really good intricate moves without ever delivering that final killer pass. 10 minutes into the half, with us on top, we shot ourselves in the foot again, a suicidal pass across our own area to a Parms attacker led to a fourth goal. To our credit we kept going and great work rate from Urul, pressured the keeper into a mistake and Mason expertly finished from 35 yards. 10 minutes later we pulled another back when Urul showed lightning pace to pounce a poor back-pass and brilliantly finish past the Parms keeper. We had got back into the game and had a couple of half chances to make it 4-3 including a great run from Smakaj that deserved someone on the end to finish. Unfortunately 10 minutes from the end we crucified ourselves again…instead of heading clear we tried to head back to Robbie in goal, only to under hit the header and leave another simple finish. We were deflated and ran out of steam in the last 10 minutes and Parms took advantage.

Despite the score-line it was a good run-out, against a team in the league above us (2 leagues above last year), Parms deserved the win and were clinical but if we can cut out the individual mistakes then we will hurt teams going forward. We need to move the ball back to front quicker and learn to play in the right areas…but total football takes time to implement! Man of the match was Sardet; great distribution and use of the ball. Lots of positives but lots to work on too…

Team; Wallis, Boadu, Thirgood J, Dickinson, Patel, O’Brien, Sardet, Marchant, James, Urul, Miloshi, Smakaj.