Management reflections on a surprising scoreline.

Posted on Sunday, December 6th, 2009

Mike says –

“After an hour yesterday we were beginning to get concerned on the side and Sam, Mike and myself thought about changing things round.  Boom! Sean raked one in from 25 yards and almost before we caught breath Omar delightfully chipped the keeper from wide on the right. The team relaxed, the fluency to our passing returned and we ran out handsome winners.

We started the game well and early on created three or four very good openings but the ball just wouldn’t go in. City took confidence from our inability to score and came close on a couple of occasions. With it looking like it was going to be goalless at the interval Cloudie broke clear in the box and his partially blocked shot was forced home by the alert Ross Archibald. 

As I say at the top we lost our way a bit at the start of the second half as City changed their formation and squeezed the game further up the park looking for the equaliser. City got up a head of steam and our passing became sloppy. Changing from a back three sitting in a bit to a back four pushing up the park gave City an impetus to their game but ultimately it proved their downfall as we got in behind them in the latter stages and were clinical with our finishing.

City missed one or two experienced players who may have steadied the ship and the three points we were desperate for were given the added bonus of another seven goals to our goal difference. A team’s goal difference is as important as a point as it proved last season when Dalbeattie were put under the pressure of having to beat us by three clear goals to lift the title. As it was we won the league by six points but who knows what will happen this season.

As I said we would on Friday, we brought Danny, Omar and Sean back into the team and they were all as excellent as we knew they would be. Sam and I would comfortably start any of our immediate pool of fourteen players and yesterday Robbie and Gavin were the unlucky players left out. Robbie had been the only player to start every game and we thought it might be the right time to rest him for a week. Gavin was our joint top scorer until Cloudie’s late header yesterday and is having a great season for us. He does however have an ongoing  problem with his shoulder and is the only first team player playing mid-week university football hence his seat on the bench.

Sam and I envisaged bringing Robbie and Gavin straight back in next week but we’ll think more about that in the next couple of days. Donal is back available from suspension but Danny and Stewart were forced off yesterday and I’ll check the extent of their injuries with them today. As well as the displays of the three amigos Sam and I were delighted with the contribution Chris, Jorge and Luke made when they came on. We are still in all the domestic competitions this season and we’ll need everybody to do their bit if we want to be more successful than last time round.

Finally back to yesterday. A big thank you to Colin for the work he put in with Hugh and Craig helping to get the park playable. Too many EOS clubs leave things to the elements and a referees decision. At Spartans we don’t.

 As for the game the score flattered us but we’ll happily take it along with the three points. The players in the home dressing room who have been regularly pulling on a strip had a big reminder that competition for places  is getting keener. Sam and I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

Mike