On the 10^th March we played Stalybridge in the cup semi final. We lost and everyone was visibly upset.  I think we were more upset because we were for large periods of the game the better team. We murdered them but couldn’t take our chances. They did and therefore they won.

Yes we have played better. Yes we could have played better. I don’t think the astro helped. It certainly didn’t help that Liam pulled his groin on Monday and Ben broke his leg today. Two very important players out and another player on form in the net instead of on the wing. Also we panicked and started chasing the game and got drawn into a long ball game instead of playing our normal passing game.

But you could not knock the effort or commitment from all, including Liam who commendably attempted to play. The passion was there and we never gave up. This passion was personified for me by James picking the ball out of the net after Ashley’s goal to get the game started quickly. Passion!

Because of this it is impossible and unfair to pick out any one player. All played with heart and worked very hard:  Danny in net, he also made some really good kicks; Sean, Kyle,  Sam and Liam stood out in defence ably assisted by Connor, Warren, Scott and Paul; Darius and Mikey were excellent in midfield, as was Man of the match, Ryan, all worked extremely hard and Ndaba played well when he came on;  Ashley and James caused problems all match.

In the end it was a case of what might have been. No blame can be awarded. Things just didn’t go right for whatever reason. There were certain factors that went against us – and I am wondering when this team is going to get any luck. But like the manager said we can be proud. We have come a long way since last season and are a far superior team to the one 12 months ago. He is proud of this team. We can all be proud of this team.