Saturday 4th February 2017 @ Boldmere St. Michaels
West Midlands County Schools’ FA League Match
Sutton Coldfield 3 – 0 Erdington and Saltley
Team: Gerard, Taylor, Cian T, Tiarno, Danny, William, Liam, Ilani, Cameron and Che
Man of the Match: Cameron – gave a performance of pure grit and determination. An example for all.
Sometimes in football you don’t get what you deserve. Other times in football you have to hold your hands up and admit you were second best. Yesterday was the latter.
Despite starting the game the better of the two title chasing teams, we couldn’t convert any of our chances and ended the first twenty all square at 0-0. Yet we did create chances and we did work hard for the cause. The boys did exactly what we asked of them. Chances were created in the form of Che’s effort that was cleared off the line, William’s strike that flew agonisingly wide and Cameron’s near post rocket that was superbly tipped over.
Then a minute into the middle third we crumbled in a way that became all too familiar during the remaining 40 minutes of the game. After pulling off a brilliant save, Gerard found himself exposed when the Sutton striker reacted faster than The Ton defence to latch onto the ball that now lay idle in the Ton box.
After some honest words, the boys momentarily bounced back in the final third and almost equalised when the excellent Cameron raced on to a clever William through ball, only to find his powerful effort sensationally saved by the Sutton keeper. Had that strike gone in it would have been 1-1. As it was, Sutton scored two goals in the final two minutes to put a gloss on the scoreline that even the most ardent member of the Ton Army would be hard pushed to deny them.
After the game we all sat down for a frank and honest debrief. The boys were very reflective in their feedback and acknowledged that they weren’t at the races for the most part of the game. However we did emphasise the point that such performances have been few and far between throughout the two or three years that this set of fine young men have represented their district. It was a blip.
It was simply a bad day at the office but these boys will bounce back. Sometimes we have days when we aren’t good enough. Thankfully most days these boys are exceptional!
Keep your heads up lads, learn from it and simply come again!
Up The Ton!
Erdington and Saltley Primary Schools' FA 