Team:
Simon Metcalfe/ Bruce Henderson
Dave Baxter
Andrew Woodall
Matt McGeehan
D Stewart (Sunday only)
Steven Adams
Vesolin Voynov
Neil Strachan
Stewart Carlile
Bruce Henderson/Simon Metcalfe
Ali Campbell
Calum Fraser
Game 1: Caledonia 13 Reading 13
Per 1: 4 4
Per 2: 2 4 (6 – 8)
Per 3: 1 1 (7 – 9)
Per 4: 4 6 (13 – 13)
Goal scorers |
Exclusions |
Extra man situations |
|
|
C Fraser 5 |
V Voynov 1 |
Gained 12 + 3 pen |
Conceded 6 |
|
Neil Strachan 2 |
D Baxter 1 |
Scored 6 + 1 pen 50% * 1 goal lost when man extra
|
Goals lost 2 66%
|
|
D Baxter 1 |
M McGeehan 1 |
||
|
V Voynov 1 |
S Adams 2 |
||
|
M McGeehan 1 |
V Voynov 1 |
||
|
A Campbell 2 |
N Strachan 1 |
||
|
S Adams 1 |
|
||
Comment:
To get a draw from being 2 goals down with 28 secs on the clock was an excellent effort. Overall though this was a tale of missed opportunity and at times sloppy defending. 50% of man ups and 2 penalties were also missed which obviously contributed to us not winning. In general our play was frenetic throughout with many wrong options taken as we created extra man situations on the counter attack. Missing opportunities at one end often meant that their players who had not made it all the way back managed to score on the 1 v GK at the other end. Our organised attack was busy but the final pass and shot was disappointing.
Game 2: Caledonia 11 Hucknall 14
Per 1: 3 4
Per 2: 4 4 (7 – 8)
Per 3: 2 4 (9 – 12)
Per 4: 2 2 (11 – 14)
Goal scorers |
Exclusions |
Extra man situations |
|
|
C Fraser 3 |
D Stewart 3 |
Gained 14 + 1 pen |
Conceded 9 + pen |
|
N Strachan 2 |
N Strachan 2 |
Scored 5 + 1 36% |
Goals lost 6 33% |
|
A Campbell 2 |
D Baxter 1 |
||
|
M McGeehan 1 |
V Voynov 1 |
||
|
D Baxter 1 |
S Adams 1 |
||
|
S Adams 1 |
M McGeehan 1 |
||
|
D Stewart 1 |
S Carlile 1 |
||
Comment:
It is difficult to be
objective about this match because we were definitely instrumental in our
own downfall. Against a strong opponent press we gave the ball away too
easily as players under pressure were isolated without help. We also did not
look threatening enough from the centre forward position. We missed too many
men up having worked hard to achieve them. Our system 2 defence too was
often ineffectual in stopping the ball getting in to the centre forward
area. That being said there were pivotal moments in this game when we were
on the ascendancy that decisions went against us. Two of their players
having been spotted by the ref should have been wrapped for violent play.
Lack of clarity with referees whistle and signal competing against the
whistle from the adjacent tank cost us a match exclusion and opposition
players clearly holding went unnoticed whereas we were going out with both
hands up. This was balanced against one penalty Hucknall should have been
awarded.
Bottom line though is we have got to be better to overcome these decisions and that can only be done through individual and collective application in training.
Game 3: Caledonia 12 Leeds 15
Per 1: 2 5
Per 2: 4 6 (6 –11)
Per 3: 3 3 (9 – 12)
Per 4: 3 1 (12 – 15)
Goal scorers |
Exclusions |
Extra man situations |
|
|
C Fraser 7 |
D Stewart 1 |
Gained 10 + 1 pen |
Conceded 2 + pen |
|
N Strachan 2 |
S Adams 1 |
Scored 5 + miss 50% |
Goals lost 1 + miss 50% |
|
S Adams 1 |
C Fraser pen |
||
|
D Stewart 1 |
|
||
|
S Carlile 1 |
|
||
Comment:
This was the proverbial game of two halves but unfortunately we left ourselves with too much to do after a poor first half. This was due to a very strong and aggressive press adopted by Leeds that we were unable to put sufficient pressure on with again losing the ball under pressure and missing good shooting opportunities (1 penalty, 3 - 1 v GK) Our defence too was poor and the choice of system two again did not give sufficient cover for the pit defender or block the outer shooters and Leeds established an 11-4 lead at one stage. Whilst it was positive that we won the remainder of the game 8-4, we left ourselves with too much to do.
A disappointing feature of the game was the referees not watching the trailing play which included a blatant out of the water kick and many pull backs in the central pool area. That being said we are still missing too many scoring opportunities.
Reflection:
I did not feel that the referees did us any favours this weekend and I feel particularly strongly that violent play was not sufficiently penalised nor indeed spotted at times. We cannot blame the referees for the final outcome of the matches however as a statistic of 20 missed man up and 3 missed penalties was very significant. The team are to be commended for the workrate in gaining 36 exclusions and 5 penalties and only conceding 18 exclusions but our play was often frenetic and our shooting lacked composure.The next weekend sees difficult fixtures and it is hoped that we can get some appropriate team training in before then.
Running totals:
|
Player |
Played |
Goals scored |
Exclusions |
|
B Henderson |
5 |
|
|
|
D Baxter |
5 |
4 |
3 |
|
A Shepherd |
2 |
1 |
2 |
|
M McGeehan |
5 |
1 |
2 |
|
N Strachan |
5 |
9 |
3 |
|
S Adams |
5 |
5 |
5 |
|
V Voynov |
5 |
1 |
4 |
|
R Laird |
2 |
4 |
1 |
|
S Carlile |
5 |
1 |
2 |
|
M Speed |
2 |
3 |
4 |
|
A Campbell |
5 |
7 |
1 |
|
C Fraser |
5 |
18 |
2 |
|
A Woodall |
3 |
|
|
|
S Metcalfe |
2 |
|
|
Alan Donaldson