Management thoughts on a Semi Close Encounter

Posted on Sunday, April 4th, 2010

Mike says –

How did I feel on hearing the final whistle yesterday? Quite a few emotions but the overriding one was relief. There was a bit of pride in there as well as we overcame a team which will greatly enhance our Premier Division next season. It was a rollercoaster of a game where we started strongly, the students took over for a long spell, our strength and experience got us in front but the students threw everything at us in the last few minutes and probably deserved extra-time. 

I wanted Sean and Alex back in the team yesterday. Sean for his experience and passing ability and wee Eck for his ball winning qualities. The Uni like to pass the ball as we do ourselves so Sam, Mike and myself thought midfield was the area the game would be won and lost in. Donal and Gav were unfortunate not to start but a game of football lasts 90 minutes and I was certain in my mind that they would come on at some stage and influence proceedings.

I’m not interested in formations, only balance but for the record we lined up  4 1 4 1 with Sean protecting the back 4 while keeping an eye on the influential Uni captain Lee Nicol. We wanted the midfield 4 to push on as we intended to play a pressing game, knock the Uni off their stride and win the ball as far up the park as we could. In doing that Cloudie would have ample support from Omar and Archie in the wide areas and Alex and Robbie from central.

We scored early which spurred Stirling on. I don’t know if we sat back intentionally but the students played at such a high intensity we were definitely knocked out of our stride. They didn’t create a lot but we couldn’t get our passing game going and subsequently Cloudie was left isolated.  Even before they scored I was talking to Sam about changing things around and for the last 10 minutes of the first half we reverted to 4 4 2 with Omar joining Cloudie up top and Robbie playing the left channel.  It did the trick and even before half-time we started passing the ball again and retained it higher up the park. We wouldn’t normally start Robbie wide left but he is such an intelligent  footballer we know he can do a job anywhere.

As it turned out Sean had a thigh strain so Omar reverted to wide left and Donal came on to support Cloudie in the second half. We got on the front foot and the top player in the second half was the Stirling keeper Sam Filler who had some outstanding saves.  

Should we have just gone 4 4 2 from the start with Donal up top? Hindsight would say yes but like Vale in an earlier semi-final, Stirling were always going to struggle to maintain a pace they don’t play at every week.  Through good play and coaching from the opposition side we lost the battle for a long spell in the first half. For our part we are pragmatic in the technical area, adaptable on the park and eventually the war was won.

I’ll finish where I started. Relief was my overriding emotion when the final whistle went. We can now look forward to the final and a game against another excellent team from our First Division. It won’t be easy but winning cups never is.”

Mike