DUFC Vikings Vs Great Notley Jaguars

Our 2nd game in the Northey Division, provided us with another opportunity to test ourselves against a stronger team.

Missing Cullen and the strength he brings to sweeping at the back, meant that this was always going to be a tough game for us, especially playing against a team who were well organised and passed very confidently.

We started slow and with the boggy ground, our normal play of strong runs supporting players wasn't working. We had some early chances but their goalkeeper made some great saves. William was quickly shut down on a number of runs and this shackled some of our threat.

We did start off with some passing, Henry assured and calmly linking up with others and Angus getting those long strides to shut down some early threat. Maxsim was looking for opportunities going forward but these weren't as regular as we have been in the last Division. We gave away some early goals, both through a lack of marking but also making it hard for ourselves with standing off the ball or being out muscled in fair challenges. We made some changes with Jess, Bastien and Joseph coming on, but we couldn't make the fresh legs work for us. Although there was some passing, this was an area that was letting us down against a better team.

Josh pulled out some fine saves both in the 1st half and second half and the score could have been far worse had he not made these, one special one which was a double save and then stopping the ball on the line. We let slip more goals before Bastien made a great dribble , turn and slot home into the bottom corner. Great goal. We had some other chances, one notable was William passing into the bottom corner only for their Goalkeeper to pull off a worldy save ! Going in at half time we were up against.

Strong words at half time really paid off. The Vikings listened and implemented well. Despite little chance of winning at this stage, they knuckled down and concentrated well. Jess was in the thick of it, Joseph running himself into the ground, Angus having to come off and go back on due to his work rate and William, running both up and down the pitch. Henry made a Gareth Bale type run from the right back slot, beating 2 players before being cynically fouled. Dusting himself down, he got up and put the free kick just wide of the post.

We had a lovely 3 pass combo between Angus, Maxsim and William resulting in my perfect goal to bring us a little closer. Unfortunately, we let one in a little while later. The game ended with defeat but some bright spots for all. 100% effort and team work for each other, however passing intelligently and not getting out muscled on tackles is an area marked for further work. The team are finding out just how important passing is to winning games.