willand game.

4-4-2 · Joined: 12 Mar 2007 Posts: 15

I dont think we won enough personal battles on the pitch , they seemed sharper on the ball and into the tackle, also we played to many high balls up to thier centre half and at 6ft 4 just lapped them up all game. thier weakest player was thier left back he was so slow I think he is still on the pitch now and when simmo ran at him in the first 5 mins I thought we were going to run him ragged but we didnt do it enough . some of the players are low on confidence at the moment so we as fans need to get behind everyone of them and turn this average start to the season into a good run and get us back up the table where we want to be ,we have not become a bad side over the last few weeks , lets all get behind the team starting this weds at bitton and go on an unbeaten run come on you ROBINS.

Colin · Press Officer Joined: 03 Mar 2007 Posts: 151

It was a strange sort of game .. came away with a "neutral" sort of feeling and struggled to decide what to say in the press report.

On the whole, I think the result was probably just about right, though I think we could have taken a point and that would have been a fair result as well.

Willand are a good side, as their league position shows, with a well organised structure throughout the team, and they use their tall players very well.

We struggled to make a real impact on the game, but I get the impression that that was more because they denied us the space to play in, rather than us not trying to play football... if you see what I mean.

I thought the second goal was the killer, as nobody really expected them to score from that distance, and when they did it was a real sickener.
Having said that, we did come back well towards the end of the match, which is a good sign.

We seem to have a problem with the left hand side at the moment. With Gary Powell injured, Steve Bridges gone, Lee Davidson absent (university?), Matt Cowler suspended and Steve Mason not in the squad, we look a bit light down that side of the pitch, and when Sam started playing on the left (with Joe Gomes), I think that we needed a bit more bite in that area. Was definitely better when Sam switched with Sim later on as I think Sam definitely plays better on the right.

I know that hindsight is an exact science, but I did wonder if Dean Ranger might have been a better replacement for Alex Lapham at the start of the half as I felt we lost some of the battle for midfield when Alex came off. Perhaps Sam could have have come on later on the right, with Sim moving up to replace Dean Griffiths, as Sim's pace might have troubled their defence a bit more?