The Days Between
FA Cup Draw Day! And we get…a home match against Dartford of the Conference South, three rungs above us on the FA ladder. They are currently 17th so hopefully their poor form carries over.
We are in the hunt in four cups plus the league so we’ll continue to play a match every 3 or 4 days until 4 October then we’ll have a 10-day break. I kinda hope we lose all cup matches to end the congestion.
I’m going to give the Second XI starts in the 4-5-1 Counter just to get them experience and the First XI some rest.
FA Trophy Second Round
at Haverhill, 5 September 2017
Formation: 4-5-1 Counter (GK, DR, DC r, DC l, DL, DMC, MC r, MC l, AMR, AML, ST c)
Starting XI: Friend,
Johnstone,
Clark,
Spearing,
Parker,
McAdam,
Thompson,
Donaldson,
Jones,
Martin,
Taylor
Subs: Webb,
Maguire,
Day,
Carroll,
Jefcoate,
Smith,
Barlow, Cullen,
Pearson,
Duckett,
Rae,
O’Donnell
After 32 minutes of absolutely nothing I switch to Attacking just to get something to happen. Something does happen! Another failed corner by us. McAdam pulled his groin around 17’ so I sub him out at half. I Calmly tell the crew that I’m not happy with their performance.
From the restart we get an excellent chance to pull ahead but Taylor, in the clear, sends the shot wide. He tries to redeem himself 11 minutes later but this shot is even worse than the first; it left the 18-yard box before going out of bounds. Time to bring on the First XI and go to 4-4-2 Standard. In the 63’ Rae almost gets it done but hits the right post and Haverhill clears it to the sideline. On the throw in Rae redeems himself, sending in a cross to O’Donnell’s powerful left foot. Then at 80’ O’Donnell returns the favor and Rae gets an easy one. I switch to Defensive for the last 10 minutes.
POM: Ben O’Donnell (1 goal, 1 assist, 2 key passes, 1 chance created)
I just realized something. We haven’t had a single goal called back for offsides. Not in the regular season, not in any friendlies.