On the 6^th March 2010 we played away at Denton Phoenix. We were under a lot of pressure right from the off and this was quite ferocious for the first 15 minutes. This situation was not helped when Liam, Sean and Warren all limped off within 5 minutes of each other, effectively leaving us with no defence. However Paul, Scott and particularly Kyle did well in their absence. Kyle tackled very well and made several good headers as well. One went straight to Ndaba, who then made a nice flick through to Mikey to start a nice attack. Ndaba showed up well. He was fast down the wing, had some nice touches and tracked back very well to tackle.  Ashley showed some nice touches and put in some good balls across goal. Ben made some excellent saves. He played very well.

We were 4-0 down before we scored our first goal. After some good pressure was applied, they handballed in the area and Liam scored the resulting penalty. It was well taken into the top corner. He showed great composure.

Soon after we made it 4-2 and actually looked like we might get back into the game. The goal came from some great play. Mikey took the ball up the wing, crossed it in, they cleared but only as far as Warren. He slammed the ball from outside the area into the back of the net. It was a fantastic shot.

Then we started to show some of our quality. Ndaba took the ball on, round three players, crossed to Mikey who hit it, the ball rebounded to James who was unlucky to miss. I suppose we should have known then it was not going to be our day. But it was very good play.

Danny did get us a consolation goal. Again good play by Mikey on the wing started it off. He crossed across to Ndaba inside him who passed to Danny. He ran in an arc round the defenders before shooting. It was a good shot. He has been on fire the last few matches. He has really come good recently. I wonder if he is trying to get all his football in now before his suspension, whether he thinks he has to get a month’s football into 2 weeks – or maybe he is just out to enjoy it while he can. I am certainly enjoying watching him at the moment. The team will miss him. And it was no accident he won the man of the match today.

The result was not really the fault of Ben or the defence who all played well under difficult circumstances and a lot of pressure. We didn’t really attack much in the first half which put the defence under pressure. The midfield were very quiet. It made a difference moving Liam to the centre. Then the balls started to get through to Mikey and Danny to start the attack. Liam put some nice balls through and we played some nice, attacking football in the last 20 minutes. Here Mikey, Danny and Liam showed up well. Ndaba also showed up well in his first full game. He did well. But the outstanding player for me and the manager today (and believe me it is not often we agree on anything) had to be Kyle. He had a super game.