Welwyn (Home)

Date: Saturday 30th September '06         
Time: 10:30                                             
Competition: League
Location: Home

St Albans Romans                  2 (1)
  McBrearty (3')
  Robb (69')

Welwyn                                    4 (1)
 


Match Report

After defeat at St Andrew’s a good performance and result were needed to buoy the team. Unfortunately, due to lack of strength in the squad, neither were possible against a talented attacking side in St Mary’s.

We had the best possible start with Kenny McBrearty putting us ahead after just three minutes.  A mix-up in the St Mary’s defence caused the defender to put the ball past the goalkeeper allowing Kenny to put the ball into the empty net. It was not a pretty goal but it should have given us a platform to work from, however, it was our defence that would be continually tested and ultimately defeated.

With Tommy McKinlay out injured and Oisin Daly away, Liam Lynch stepped in at centre-back alongside Jamie Gibson and the lack of experience in the position showed. After the goal, the general energy in the team dropped and we were forced to defend constantly against a quick and skilful attack. Jamie had put in a number of last-ditch tackles and Quinny made some good saves and barring a couple short spells of possession, the defence was under pressure.

Eventually the defence broke. After a goal kick fell short, a St Mary’s player headed the ball back towards goal. As Liam missed the ball, it allowed the attacker to sneak in and lob the ball over the oncoming Quinny. It was a disappointing goal to concede as it had all the hallmarks of the goals we had conceded against St Andrew’s. The half ended in more disappointment with Kenny going off injured.

The second half started evenly, but we were still giving away possession far too easily and the task was to become even harder. Jamie left, which meant that Ben Gibson had to come on unexpectedly. It left us with even less experience at the back and St Mary’s took advantage. The pace and skill of the attack was too much for the defence and St Mary’s made it 2-1 soon after. Ben then gave away a penalty, after being turned in the box, but Quinny saved the penalty magnificently down to his left.

The penalty save seemed to spark something in the team and for a twenty-minute spell the effort, work rate and more over, team spirit was excellent. Encouraging and playing for each other, we started to worry St Mary’s for the first time since scoring the opener and after 70 minutes the effort was rewarded.

After good work down the right, Pete Wilson, making his debut for the club, cut inside the box and played a lovely ball across the area. Chris Robb was there to slot the ball home from 12 yards to open his account for the season.

The midfield, especially Jason Potter, had got through a lot of work and the pressure returned on our defence as the team seemed to tire. We were not able to keep the effort rate up and as St Mary’s came back into the game, the defence’s frailties resurfaced. We conceded two goals, that again, should have been defended better and that was enough to see our fight off. 4-2 was a fair reflection of the game, as the best attack won, however, we really didn’t test a St Mary’s defence, that looked very shaky in the outset.

There are going to be fundamental changes before the next game, which is not until the 21^st October. Not time to panic, but this is a good time to try and address a few of the problems we have.