What a terrific performance. We came out with good intent but I thought we were in for a hammering after their two goals but we settled and responded excellently.
We were never going to outplay them and it was inevitable that we would have to try a different tact to get anything, namely being more direct than of late in the first half. We got our tails up after the goal and without really looking like creating much from open play, started to unsettle them.
At that point I think they gave us a bit more respect and we realised that we were able to compete. That was evident with their double substitution at halftime.
Our second half performance was immense. We were very well organised defensively and dare I say, looked reasonably comfortable with their attacking threat. Bozzie played a blinder and despite Vicker’s obvious injury concern, he looked assured and pulled off a fantastic save from Sigurdsson.
They were at no point comfortable with a one goal cushion and pressed us to try and put things to bed, which just didn’t happen.
Goal scoring chances were inevitably few and far between but we became more relaxed and tried to pass it round more going forward.
I thought O’Connor was excellent and was probably only taken off to add a more attacking dimension, which was necessary with the time remaining. There was no point in settling for a valiant defeat without giving it a go.
It was great to see Chapman come on and he played a beauty of a ball to McCartan. I think he will shine in the future in more free flowing games where he has a bit more time on the ball.
Andrade wasn’t afraid to demonstrate his flair when having a go at their full back, and Anderson similarly tried his usual run at them without fear approach.
Akinde showed his ability and Rhead also kept up his deft touches, looking un-phased again playing against higher quality opposition.
An overall fantastic performance from the whole team. This was no plucky lower league showing against the big boys. We gave a tremendous account of ourselves, as good as I’d hoped we would.
Now we move on to the real goal of the league, from which this performance can do nothing but galvanise us and push us forward. UTI