Redolence ripped apart

Report

After a commanding win last week, Redolence were back in league action against AFC (Thomas Brothers) Lions. Having won the Hunt Crane cup 3 days earlier, Lions hosted several changes from their last meeting vs Redolence- a 7-2 win that Redolence would be desperate to avenge. Lions strength lies in their pacey strike force and packing the midfield with quality, but they do leak goals and Redolence lined up 4-4-2 to aim to put pressure on them. Jon, Stu, Crouch,Ant and Kieran at the back; Luka, Jonesy, Jord and Lewis in midfield and Tim & Andy up top. The bench was again full this week with Woody holding onto his bench spot, Wayne and Jay returning to the fold and Ash Atkinson making his debut.

First half

The half started well and to plan- going downhill with the sun in Lions field of vision Redolence imposed themselves on the game. At the back Lions looked shaky, and several long throws from Jord caused chaos- Luka looping a chance over at the back post with the goal at his mercy, and Jonesy forcing a goal-line clearance from a throw from the other side. General play was fairly tidy, but the intensity was noticeably lower than last week- Lions were given lots of time at the back to play the ball and they looked the more confident side. They took the lead, against the run of play at the time, a clever pass breaking the Redolence back line and their striker dispatched it well (Goal Lions 1-0. 15 mins). Heads dropped immediately, and in the hot conditions Redolence looked a little out of sorts and lacking fitness. 1 became 2, Lions given too much time and their striker again producing a smart finish (Goal Lions 2-0. 25 mins). Redolence had lost their edge, so Scott made a few changes. Notably, Ash Atkinson made his debut and came on up top and immediately injected some urgency into the proceedings, hounding Lions at every turn and relieving some of the pressure on the defence in the process. It was refreshing to see such endeavour and Redolence pressed on, admittedly without crafting anything too substantial…the closest Redolence came to breaking through saw Woody just fail to reach a genius through ball from Lewis. Lions were to score again before half time- a cross out wide was well headed in by Lions striker who’d got away from his man (Goal Lions 3-0. 40 mins)

HT: 0-3

A disappointing first half, that promised much but didn’t deliver. Plenty to do, but in short it didn’t get better for the lads. With the sun in their eyes and a hill to play up, conditions now didn’t favour the lads, and they didn’t adapt to it well- Lions scoring after 5 mins after a long through ball was allowed to bounce, Lions striker getting to it first and lobbing Jon in the process (Goal Lions. 4-0. 50 mins). Redolence were more positive going forward at this point, their main threat through set plays that Lions were doing well to repel. General play was scrappy- with composure and communication lacking throughout, the lads were hesitant to play the simple ball and trying too hard to force openings that weren’t there. Lions added a fifth, a carbon copy of the 4th only this time assisted by their keeper. (Goal Lions 5-0. 65 mins). Redolence kept pushing, Ash’s endeavour nearly getting a debut goal but for a goal-line clearance following some last ditch defending to clear Tim’s previous effort! Lions though completed their goal scoring 10 mins later, a break down their left and a low cross was watched by Redolence as the striker ran in for a tap in (Goal Lions 6-0. 75 mins). Redolence were to grab a late consolation…Lewis whipping in a delightful free kick which Tim did well to get his head on and guide home.(Goal Redolence 1-6. Lees. Assist Billingham). A tidy goal, but too little too late.

FT: 1-6

Verdict

A frustrating defeat because it was as abject as the last defeat to Lions. Redolence had a plan that only worked for 20mins, they didn’t adapt to the situation then had several lapses in concentration that contributed to a poor result. Once Lions got ahead, heads dropped and Lions greater attacking numbers, movement and work rate told. At the moment there appears to be 2 types of Redolence performance- the hard working, good communicating and fit team that can win games and the quiet, scrappy and unfit side that generally loses. That hard working side is still there, and was shown in flashes today, with Ash demonstrating up front how much we can gain by putting real pressure onto oppositions defences- no one in our league is comfortable when someone runs at them with commitment. The whole side needs to want to do the dirty work to dig out results. The lads need to get back on the training pitch (all the lads) and keep working together to ensure that this sort of performance doesn’t manifest itself again for the remainder of the season.

FT SCC Redolence 1 - 6 AFC Lions
75 SCC Redolence 1 - 6 AFC Lions (Lees, assist Billingham)
65 SCC Redolence 0 - 6 AFC Lions
55 SCC Redolence 0 - 5 AFC Lions
50 SCC Redolence 0 - 4 AFC Lions
HT SCC Redolence 0 - 3 AFC Lions
40 SCC Redolence 0 - 3 AFC Lions
25 SCC Redolence 0 - 2 AFC Lions
15 SCC Redolence 0 - 1 AFC Lions
KO SCC Redolence 0 - 0 AFC Lions