This was a home match with
league leaders Saltburn playing bottom club St Francis on a
sunny day with a slight breeze.
Prior to K.O all the Saltburn
players were warned that we were on the top and every team
will try there damnedest to beat us. Within the first ten
minutes St Francis were proving the point and Saltburn were
still in the starting blocks. As the half wore on St Francis
made several decent chances and we were lucky not to concede
a goal. Some players were not pulling their weight and
showing lack of composure and not doing the basics of the
game. We did have a couple of very good chances but spurned
these. We eventually took the lead against the run of play
when from a free kick far out near the half way line was
missed by the opposition defence and Waller to his credit
just got his leg to the ball and deflect it into the corner
of the goal. This meant a half time lead of 1-0 but
Saltburns coaches (all 5) were far from happy with the team
performance and two changes were made. Off came Axe and
Caird and on came Clark and Williams. This did not have the
impact we were seeking and from a corner a St Francis player
headed home unchallenged from a corner. We were not the
better team and seemed to lack fighting spirit and two
changes were made when Axe and Caird returned for Blue and
Waller. This did have an impact and we did create some good
chances and yet again poor finishing let us down and with
the opposition threatening on the breakaways it came as no
surprise when a long ball down our right side of defence
when a basic error by a defender allowed a good cross to
reach the middle of the goal when a rush of blood by the
Saltburn keeper, who was too late to get the ball and was
neatly headed home by St Francis. We tried but never looked
like scoring from then as too many players had or seemed to
have given up. The final score was 2-1 to St Francis who
deserved the win as they fought for every ball had great
team spirit and played some decent football. Very few pass
marks for Saltburn players but Atkinson who had a mixed day
at least never gave up and ran his socks off. Also good
performances from Graham and apart from one error Walters
played well in goal including a sensational diving save to
his top left hand corner. Hoggard made some good runs and
several good crosses but no takers. Hitchen never gave up
and ran his socks off and tried his best. However far to
many players need to think about their game. An 18 match
unbeaten run in the league was now over and it had to come
at some time though today it should not have been and a sad
way to lose it. Some players chose to blame the ref. WRONG.
He had a good game. Read this and think what YOU should have
done or didn't do.
