Sils score six and keep a clean sheet - but was it enough?

Old Sils hosted bottom of the table Bromsgrove 5 on a very dark and windy day. With both ourselves and Edgbaston 7 equal on points and goal difference we needed a high scoring win. The supporting crowd was the largest yet and so numerous that the team shelter proved to be too small to accommodate them all. Bettridge looked almost fetching under his Barbour Moons Tweed Cap, although Bragg’s wry smile hinted at something else. John Lyons took the sartorial stakes to a new high with his neck/chin/mouth scarf, so reminiscent of Wilfred from the Bash Street Kids.
Moving on…

The game started well enough with Sils dominating the play and attacking mostly down the right wing. The build-up play between Shaun Bates, Simon Russell and Matthew Lyons was excellent and time and again they fed the ball out to John Harrison on the right wing. As we have come to expect John was mightily impressive with his attacking moves driving deep into the right hand corner and forcing the defence to come out wide. Getting the ball into the circle proved more difficult but goal scoring opportunities looked certain to follow. Sure enough John eventually cut the ball back from the byline to Keith Willetts who swept it just inside the near post. Just the start we need, so far so good.

We continued in much the same vein but also mixed it up a little with some attacks through the centre and also down the left wing with excellent play from Tony Dwyer and Murray Creed. It seemed to be just a matter of time before ewe scored more goals. The side suffered a setback when Steve Aylin limped off with a knee injury that he sustained in an earlier game.

Some fifteen minutes into the game and John cut another ball back from the byline again to find Willetts waiting in the D. This time Willetts went for the far post but unfortunately the ball went inches wide. We then had a succession of short corners from which the shots either went wide or were well saved by the goal keeper. We also failed to pick up any of the rebounds from the keeper’s pads.

Despite dominating the play we were not finding the goal and a little anxiety was beginning to creep in. Their goal keeper and sweeper were both playing well and with increasing confidence. Their sweeper was distributing the ball really well and when we closed down the forward option from sixteens he did not hesitate to switch the play across the back. Unfortunately for him it was during such a manoeuvre that he made one of his few mistakes. In attempting to send the ball across the circle to a defender on the right he failed to put enough pace on the ball. Andy reacted quickly and intercepted the pass, jabbed the ball forward and then flicked it into the net before the oncoming keeper could intervene. Goal number 2.

As the first half progressed they came back into the game a little more and though they didn’t look too dangerous the worry was that with a little bit of luck they just might sneak a goal to bring them back into contention. At the half time whistle we were leading by two goals to nil but we hadn’t made the most of our chances.

The second half started much as the first but their sweeper was now playing really well. He seemed to everywhere, making lots of good tackles followed by great distribution. He was passing with both pace and accuracy. They were definitely still in the game and they found the confidence to start pressing really high. We countered this threat by defending higher up the pitch to deny them the time to settle on the ball. Mick Lane, Sam Teal and Craig Ffitch all rose to the challenge and made the strategy work. Fortunately none had to resort to using their blistering pace to cover back. It was good to see Craig mopping up on the pitch for a change, Maureen would have been proud of him. Yogi had very little to do but when called into action he didn’t put a foot wrong.

Inevitably as they pressed forward they began to leave gaps at the back which we were able to exploit through good passing and intelligent use of the ball. Dave Higgins worked his socks off so much that I began to think he was playing barefoot. This was another excellent midfield contribution from Dave who was combining well with the others in midfield. We were retaining possession, passing well and making far fewer mistakes than usual. As the game opened up the forwards began to find more space in which to receive their passes. Following a long sequence of good passes the ball eventually reached Willetts in the D and he flicked the ball past the goalkeeper for number three.

We are beginning to play for, and get, more short corners. I can see more goals coming from this tactic because our short corner routines are improving week on week. With this in mind it came as no surprise when Russell converted a short with a thumping strike that crashed into the backboard. Great shot Simon.

With less than fifteen minutes remaining Shaun began playing much higher. This seems to be feature of his game and a very welcome one too (no apologies for the awful pun). It was well inside their half when Murray made an inch perfect pass to Shaun. This gave Shaun the time to look up and pick his target. He powered the pass straight at Willetts who, with his back to goal, deftly deflected the ball upwards and it flew straight into the back of the net for his hat-trick.

With the clock ticking Andy Rush demonstrated his superb skill by controlling an awkward ball before guiding it inside the left hand post for his second of the match.

The game ended with Sils scoring six and Yogi gaining his first clean sheet. This was just enough to keep us in second place in the league. Perhaps we should have scored more. The result suggests a walkover but it wasn’t that easy. Their defence worked hard and played well, especially the sweeper and goalkeeper. They also fielded a very youthful side with lots of energy and this bodes well for a very promising future.

Man of the Match Keith Willetts

Post Script
After the excellent post-match banter in the bar last week there is little left to say except that Murray turned up in yet another Christmas jumper, just how many has he got and can Primark keep up? Next week he has promised to show us his Christmas puddings, can’t wait!