Men's 4s vs Bloxwich 3

This week Telford 4ths travelled to play Bloxwich 3rds, the team one place and 3 points above them in the League. 

It was a cold afternoon, but at least it stayed dry.

Chris thought this was a match Telford needed to win to be safe to stay in this League. After last week Chris warned the team about the umpires. Chris also wanted to see fast, flat, and accurate passing from the team.

Looked like the pitch was also a problem. It was old, worn and wet, which made it very slippery. Several players from both teams had difficulty keeping their feet with many slipping over or having difficulty stopping and turning.

Telford didn’t make a good start and were 1-0 down after 8 minutes. Telford’s passing wasn’t good, with players slow to get the pass away, having their passes blocked or passes going astray.

Bloxwich defenders weren’t afraid to use their physical strength on the Telford juniors either.

However, the 1st half did become more even with Telford creating some good attacks, but shots were either blocked or went wide.

Half-time came with no further score.

At half-time Chris stressed the need to improve the passing. Also, for the juniors to stand up to the physical Bloxwich game and not be afraid to use their own strength against the defenders. Chris also wanted to see more intensity from the team as there was too much sloppy play. Not enough looking up early enough to make the early pass to a team-mate. Also allowing the opposition too much time on the ball and not putting them under pressure.

2nd half was quite even again. Telford pushed for the equaliser with some good attacking moves that earned a few short corners. However, the team again were unable to convert their chances. Telford shots were again either blocked, straight at the keeper or were off target.

Telford continued to give the ball away though, either through misplaced passes or by wanting too much time on the ball. 

Late on in the game Telford lost the ball whilst pressing for a goal and with few defenders back. A Bloxwich junior outran Telford’s last defender to put the ball past Brad and make the score 2-0, which was how the game finished.

This wasn’t the best performance from Telford against a team that weren’t that good, and that Telford had a reasonable chance of beating.

At the end Chris said he wanted the team to come back fighting harder and more switched on for the next game.

Aaron was MOTM for his hard work and effort through the whole game.

Hopefully Telford will perform better next week against Lichfield 5ths at St. Georges. With the game being the 1st of the day there may be the chance for additional practice with an early meet time.