Waterlooville Boys Blog. Episode 3 – The good the bad and the unlucky

As expected, it’s been an emotional roller-coaster.

The Village are currently three games into their maiden season and it’s been crazy. In all honesty we didn’t expect anything less and have enjoyed every minute of it. Well, almost.

The first match saw us travel to FOSPS Youth. Our chief researcher was in fine form the night before, informing us that the website advertised the match as a school event. To which we raised eyebrows, but licked our lips also.

The boys were in fine form that morning. Focussed, determined and motivated. We started with what we thought would be our strongest team, setting them a challenge of four goals by half time. The reason behind this was creating chances isn’t our problem, putting the ball past the keeper is.

The first half saw Ville take the initiative from the word go with their high tempo football catching their opponents flat footed. The team were again guilty of squandering valuable opportunities, but goals from Nathan, Joe and an own goal gave Waterlooville a comfortable 3-1 lead at the interval.

The second half was a more shaky performance, with the previously stern defending being truly tested. The home side managed to claw their way back into the match at 3-2, with some avoidable mistakes proving costly to our defence. A late flurry from Ville saw them hold off the onslaught. Harvey came close from outside the box, rattling the crossbar in the process. So to did Charlie Thomas, who was so close to grabbing his first goal for the club.

The boys had succeeded in getting the desired result, but the performance certainly raised questions over the teams focus and fitness, with many of them looking tired in the second half. You’ve probably heard the saying tired body tired minds.

Since then we’ve made a point to work on the sides fitness. We want the team to out play as well as out run their opponents, and that means working twice as hard without the ball. If we can install these philosophies early on we may not see the benefits straight away, but come 11 a side we will be a force to be reckoned with.

Unfortunately due to working commitments I wasn’t able to see the entire match against Crofton Saints Lions. What I did see from the boys was a shadow of the team I had seen the week before. Why? Only they can tell you. The energy and fluid football had vanished from their game, replaced with continuous hitting and hoping.

The team was 2-0 at half time against a side that weren’t better than us to be honest. They had a couple of talented players, notably the striker, but we’ve faced tougher opposition and come away better off. It was reported to me that we were beaten 4-0 much to the discontent of the manager, who apparently read the riot act after the game.

We still don’t know what happened that morning. Did someone forget to have their Weetabix? Was it over confidence? Without finding the answer it could prove difficult to avoid a repeat performance.

After the fixture the non-playing staff came into some criticism regarding how hard we work the team. In response to them critics, when you know how well your team can play, especially after they show you on match-day, you begin to expect a certain level of performance. Waterlooville Boys are long past the days of getting hammered 6, 7,8-0, and to see the boys give such a lacklustre performance is disheartening and makes me personally feel let down. Not to mention how the other coaches and parents feel who come to watch week in week out.

So in response yes we do work them hard, but after the distance we’ve come in twelve months can you blame us? After all it seems hard work provides the best results. Perhaps its down to the passion we have for the team and the club. I haven’t met a club more passionate than ours, and we hope that passion rubs on to the boys so they become proud of their team.

We believe something needed to change after that match, and so we’ve taken a slightly different approach to training, with more emphasis put on work rate. On top of that we also had a conundrum to overcome after our keeper Alex decided playing in goal wasn’t for him. Something I had been telling him from day one.

With Alex back on the pitch it gives us more options in midfield. Playing in goal has only boosted the little man’s confidence and I predict in a few years he will be one of the brightest stars in the team. His best weapon is his brain, which combined with his newly found kicking power gives us a brand new weapon at our disposal.

With Alex coming out it means that someone has to go in. Step up Charlie Thomas. The youngster hasn’t played in goal before but after learning that he plays cricket, we thought it best to give him the gig. However with only a single training session before our next match we weren’t expecting much from between the sticks. Mind you the first thing we did notice was he could kick the ball very well.

The third match in the series pitted us against Stubbington FC Seagulls. With Both Christian and Nathan on holiday, and Harvey broken down it seemed our backs were against the wall before a ball was even kicked. Returning to the side for his first competitive match was Brandon Kelly who had been most impressive in training.

The starting line up was like none we had ever seen before, however the decision to start Joe Carey centre midfield worked wonders with Brandon leading the line. The team started the way we knew they could, high pressing, quick tempo combined with some superb one-touch stuff. The seagulls looked promising on the counter, with a couple of starlets shining. Again, the side missed first half opportunities, but made amends thanks to Carey’s confident finish, and Brandon’s sheer determination and persistence paying off. The Village looked hungry for goals.

The defence were standing tall, with notable progress in their distribution to the midfield, picking the right pass. Stirling and Henry once again were a rock at the back, showing excellently timed challenges. However lapses in concentration allowed the home team to capitalise on their counter attacks, leaving it 2-2 at half time.

We changed it up and tried to work our way back into the lead. Charlie came on second half and demonstrated a master class in sliding tackles; to my amusement the referee gave a foul after about 3-4 perfect challenges, claiming the kids aren’t allowed to sliding tackle? If that’s true no wonder England are so bad at football!!
What on earth have they been teaching the kids?

Brandon’s work up top was ruthless, reminding me of an 18 year old Wayne Rooney who didn’t stop chasing the ball down. His hard work was rewarded with another timely goal, and he was a huge contributor in the own goal which gave us the lead at 4-3.

With only minutes to go it had to be a freak goal that undone our efforts. The ball was played wide for the striker to cross into the box, which looped over the poor keepers head, and into the corner. Very much like Ronaldinho when he beat Seamen in 2002. I felt heartbreak, also very much Like in 2002.

With a new goalkeeper between the sticks we always were going to look vulnerable at the back, with our only real hope of victory coming from outscoring our opponents. To be fair to Charlie one of the goals took a wicked deflection and he did make some big saves. Things such as handling, commanding your box and shot stopping will come with time and practise.

Despite the draw we were more than pleased with the sides performance, in many ways it was better than the victory. When you consider three of our better players didn’t start the match it just goes to show what we are capable of on our day.

We’ve told the boys the league is there for the taking. We believe their good enough, and if they play that way every week we will be right up there. For us now it’s about consistency and maintaining that level of performance. We’re looking to bring in some new things to training very soon to help the team progress week on week, but they also need to maintain the hard work to earn their just desserts.

I can’t wait for our next match.

Over and out.

By: James Newnham