On the 14^th March we played Middleton Lads in the semi final of the cup. Against the top of the league we made a good showing of ourselves at first. It was still 0-0 after 20 minutes and we were giving as good as we got. Both sides looked equal and if anything we were playing the better football and creating more chances.Darius was superb on the wing and Ryan fed him extremely well, putting some cracking balls through to release him into space. At the other end Manager’s man of the match, Sean and Liam mopped up every spot of danger with ease. Both tracked back extremely well, working together to ensure players were pushed out wide and/or tackled. Man of the match Ben was equally as effective in net putting in a fantastic performance despite being on crutches the day before. He really must be commended for his commitment and dedication to the team. He should not have played today but was adamant he wanted to play. Thanks Ben!

This however is an important feature of this team. The spirit is there and the commitment. Ben is not the only one who is determined to play when perhaps he shouldn’t – although this is the second time he has done this this season after his operation earlier this year. Other players recently to play through injury include Sean, Liam and Warren. Well done guys. It sure shows that if nothing else we are committed to the cause.

And the commitment was there today – even though the match went away from us. We still showed up well against the top team. The manager picked out Sean, Liam and Ben as his top players and it was difficult to argue. All three had fine games. I would also include Darius and Ryan in there. Also Jordan and Stephen impressed. Jordan kept with faster players and somehow made the tackle – as he always manages to. He may not be the quickest but like the mountie he gets his man. Stephen was also very visible making good play up the wing and putting in some good balls for Danny and Ashley. He worked hard today. Danny also worked hard and put in some graft on the wing attacking then getting back to help Jordan.

We certainly didn’t  deserve the scoreline but we need to be more clinical at the front. The defence works hard, the midfield get the balls through but we are not scoring. Why? I don’t know. Ashley and James always look potent and are creating chances. They have also scored a lot of goals between them – and more than anyone scored last season – so maybe we shouldn’t grumble. But we have got greedy now and when we see Ashley, James or Mikey, Darius and Danny with the ball we expect a score.

And I’m afraid if we were more clinical we would have won today – despite the score as it was. The fact is that we could have been 2 up before they scored.

I don’t know what the answer is. Yes this team is a good team and much better than last year but if we want to improve maybe we need more training on finishing, holding the ball up and being strong in attack or maybe we need to recruit a player who is a pure goalscorer to complement all the good, creative work that James, Ashley, Mikey, Ryan, Danny, Darius et al are producing week after week.