New Year, New Us?
Happy New Year everyone. I do hope you had a lovely festive time and didn’t overly indulge on the drink (parents, of course!).
It was the start of a new year and Coaches Harris and Wixey had been in a reflective mood over the team’s progress so far this season while sipping away at a lovely hot drink and half a Double Decker each at Coach Harris’ new abode. It was realised that the team had only won 2 (proper) games since the start of the season and although the team had shown signs of what they were capable of at times, nothing seemed to be cementing itself.
This chat was had with the boys on the morning of this game. The boys themselves highlighted that they’d drawn games they feel they should’ve won and lost a couple of games by the odd goal. The difference between consistency, even within a 60 minute period, at this level.
Our opposition were Swindon, who were having a similar season to us in terms of fruitful results. The boys and coaches felt that this was an opportunity to right some wrongs from previous games.
On a sticky pitch, the game started just as scrappy as it seemed to go on. Both teams really struggling to get full control over the ball and produce some sort of fluidity in play. However, it was Gloucester that seemed to be opening up more chances for the first goal.
Badham came close to scoring after good work down the right from the poorly DBalkwill. Young had won the ball back in the middle of the park and spread the ball out. DBalkwill’s cross found its way to the edge of the area where Badham fired low, but just went wide of the post.
Burr, who was starting his first game since breaking his ankle, was given quite a bit of space at times to pick up the ball and play in Badham, Young and Ball down the line who were making a number of runs to get beyond the defence. Chances came for both Young and Ball, but came to nothing.
Swindon nearly took advantage of Gloucester’s wastefulness when they had a free-kick on the edge of the box. Winton’s kick had beaten the wall superbly - only to find the crossbar in the way of scoring a well-struck goal. Swindon probably finished the half the better team, winning more first and second balls and trying to play better team football.
The second half saw Gloucester take advantage again in winning more of the ball. Normally with this team (as with most), when they win more of the ball the football starts to come together a little more too. With this, more chances were being created.
The Yellows had won a number of corners after attacks down the wings by Young, Fogg and DBalkwill and opportunities fell to Ball, but good defending put the ball out for a fair few corners. Little Harris was delivering ball after ball in to the danger zones with great precision, but more led to goal scrambles than anything.
The opening goal came when Gloucester had worked their way into the Swindon box. Swindon tried to get the ball cleared, but found a Yellow shirt in their way at every chance. Young finally sees the ball on the edge of the box and thrashes a shot into the bottom right corner - thanking Santa for his new boots along the way.
The next goal quickly followed after another brilliant corner in by Little Harris was cleared only to Badham near the edge of the area. He belted the ball home well to double the lead.
Swindon’s reply was a near copy of their earlier opportunity. A free-kick in a centralised area outside the box was again hit by Winton. Unlucky for him, he pretty much found the same spot on the crossbar as previous and the kick went out to safety.
Gloucester last’s big chance of the game fell to Young (who was having probably his best game of the season). Another precise corner from Little Harris found its way over the keeper to Young who was 1-2 yards off the goal line. As he bent down to header the ball into the open net, the ball hit the top of his head and somehow went wide.
Much like the first half, Gloucester seemed to start winning less of the ball and panicking when they did have it. This allowed Swindon to attack a number of times, but luckily any shot that found its way through was meant by GBalkwill with ease.
The final whistle went and a result that was definitely deserved although still a little unconvincing will have hopefully given the boys a little boost going forwards.
Gloucester B: G.Balkwill, J.Moroney, C.Evans, D.Balkwill, G.Ball, J.Fogg, L.Badham, J.Young, J.Harris and R.Burr
It was the start of a new year and Coaches Harris and Wixey had been in a reflective mood over the team’s progress so far this season while sipping away at a lovely hot drink and half a Double Decker each at Coach Harris’ new abode. It was realised that the team had only won 2 (proper) games since the start of the season and although the team had shown signs of what they were capable of at times, nothing seemed to be cementing itself.
This chat was had with the boys on the morning of this game. The boys themselves highlighted that they’d drawn games they feel they should’ve won and lost a couple of games by the odd goal. The difference between consistency, even within a 60 minute period, at this level.
Our opposition were Swindon, who were having a similar season to us in terms of fruitful results. The boys and coaches felt that this was an opportunity to right some wrongs from previous games.
On a sticky pitch, the game started just as scrappy as it seemed to go on. Both teams really struggling to get full control over the ball and produce some sort of fluidity in play. However, it was Gloucester that seemed to be opening up more chances for the first goal.
Badham came close to scoring after good work down the right from the poorly DBalkwill. Young had won the ball back in the middle of the park and spread the ball out. DBalkwill’s cross found its way to the edge of the area where Badham fired low, but just went wide of the post.
Burr, who was starting his first game since breaking his ankle, was given quite a bit of space at times to pick up the ball and play in Badham, Young and Ball down the line who were making a number of runs to get beyond the defence. Chances came for both Young and Ball, but came to nothing.
Swindon nearly took advantage of Gloucester’s wastefulness when they had a free-kick on the edge of the box. Winton’s kick had beaten the wall superbly - only to find the crossbar in the way of scoring a well-struck goal. Swindon probably finished the half the better team, winning more first and second balls and trying to play better team football.
The second half saw Gloucester take advantage again in winning more of the ball. Normally with this team (as with most), when they win more of the ball the football starts to come together a little more too. With this, more chances were being created.
The Yellows had won a number of corners after attacks down the wings by Young, Fogg and DBalkwill and opportunities fell to Ball, but good defending put the ball out for a fair few corners. Little Harris was delivering ball after ball in to the danger zones with great precision, but more led to goal scrambles than anything.
The opening goal came when Gloucester had worked their way into the Swindon box. Swindon tried to get the ball cleared, but found a Yellow shirt in their way at every chance. Young finally sees the ball on the edge of the box and thrashes a shot into the bottom right corner - thanking Santa for his new boots along the way.
The next goal quickly followed after another brilliant corner in by Little Harris was cleared only to Badham near the edge of the area. He belted the ball home well to double the lead.
Swindon’s reply was a near copy of their earlier opportunity. A free-kick in a centralised area outside the box was again hit by Winton. Unlucky for him, he pretty much found the same spot on the crossbar as previous and the kick went out to safety.
Gloucester last’s big chance of the game fell to Young (who was having probably his best game of the season). Another precise corner from Little Harris found its way over the keeper to Young who was 1-2 yards off the goal line. As he bent down to header the ball into the open net, the ball hit the top of his head and somehow went wide.
Much like the first half, Gloucester seemed to start winning less of the ball and panicking when they did have it. This allowed Swindon to attack a number of times, but luckily any shot that found its way through was meant by GBalkwill with ease.
The final whistle went and a result that was definitely deserved although still a little unconvincing will have hopefully given the boys a little boost going forwards.
Gloucester B: G.Balkwill, J.Moroney, C.Evans, D.Balkwill, G.Ball, J.Fogg, L.Badham, J.Young, J.Harris and R.Burr
