Post by greygraham on Feb 23, 2020 17:19:57 GMT
Tooting Bec 2 – 1 Godalming
It has all been happening off the pitch in the last week. With the departure of Paul Bonner as first team manager there were going to be lots of changes and questions over who would be in the squad.
So, technically this was Phil Ruggles first match in charge of the Gs. I say technically because he was not at the game (Jurgen Klopp style) leaving his assistants Steve Peterkin and Tony Roberts to organise things. That’s a sign of confidence if ever I saw one and some confidence would go down well amongst the Gs.
Three new names in the starting eleven and a full subs bench greeted us as we arrived at Imperial Fields home of the mighty Tooting and Mitcham United who were the first football team that I properly supported as a schoolboy. They were in the Isthmian League then and still are now. They obviously have not upset anyone in the FA and been moved from one League to another over the years like the Gs have in the last fifty odd years.
This mixed bag of Gs players struggled to find any real rhythm in the opening minutes, but I suppose they were busy learning each other’s names. Then, just as they started to gel a little, they found themselves defending a corner to beyond the far post that was played back in to the six-yard box and from there Tooting Bec scored.
It was as if that took the wind out of the Gs sails as, within a couple of minutes, the Gs won a corner at the other end. But the home side broke out of defence more quickly than the Gs could recover and the Tooting team were two nil up within a couple of minutes of the first goal.
As the hosts were looking to go into fourth place in the League and chase for promotion, if they could get all three points today, while the juxtaposed Gs were facing the opposite fate at the bottom of the table, it could all have gone downhill from there, but the Gs regrouped and put together some threatening moves. But it was Adrian Giles who was by far the busier of the keepers in the first half. He produced a couple of terrific stops to keep the Gs in it at 2-0 down at half time.
The second half saw the Gs step up again as they have in the past and began pressurising the home side further up the pitch and battling for 50/50 balls with a bit more belief. Again, this pot pourri of Gs players started winning a fair few corners and putting pressure on their hosts.
Roberto Dos Santos Saraiva had been showing some promise wide on the opposite wing to Jordan Cavender during the first half and at around 20 minutes into the second half he made a good break down the left flank for the Gs and delivered a terrific cross into the area where Jahmal Ramsey got a fine glancing header on the ball to put it beyond the despairing keeper and pull a goal back for the Gs.
As you would expect that gave a bit of a lift to the Gs youngsters who were now upping their game.
Roberto got through one on one with the home keeper who did well to foil his attempt and we also had a shout for a hand ball in the area, but despite a terrific second half from the lads we could not level the score. Elijah Carter was replaced by George Smith. Dom Hardisty came on to replace Raisan Francis who I presume had a bit of a niggle. Captain Rory Sellick dropped back to partner Andy Tarrant while Charlie Chennel moved to left back. This gave Dom a new role in the midfield, which he seemed to relish. Reegan Scotcher was at right back. Shariff Madeebo came on for Jordan Cavender.
At the end of the game the TB manager was good enough to congratulate Rory on his team’s second half performance.
There were lots of good performances throughout all the squad on the day and all is not yet lost, despite Eversley winning and setting us down at the foot of the table. We desperately need points without doubt and I am sure that they will come if we can tighten up in the midfield and keep working as hard as we did in the second half of this game.
COYG’s
No Stats from Michael as it is half term and he is away.
It has all been happening off the pitch in the last week. With the departure of Paul Bonner as first team manager there were going to be lots of changes and questions over who would be in the squad.
So, technically this was Phil Ruggles first match in charge of the Gs. I say technically because he was not at the game (Jurgen Klopp style) leaving his assistants Steve Peterkin and Tony Roberts to organise things. That’s a sign of confidence if ever I saw one and some confidence would go down well amongst the Gs.
Three new names in the starting eleven and a full subs bench greeted us as we arrived at Imperial Fields home of the mighty Tooting and Mitcham United who were the first football team that I properly supported as a schoolboy. They were in the Isthmian League then and still are now. They obviously have not upset anyone in the FA and been moved from one League to another over the years like the Gs have in the last fifty odd years.
This mixed bag of Gs players struggled to find any real rhythm in the opening minutes, but I suppose they were busy learning each other’s names. Then, just as they started to gel a little, they found themselves defending a corner to beyond the far post that was played back in to the six-yard box and from there Tooting Bec scored.
It was as if that took the wind out of the Gs sails as, within a couple of minutes, the Gs won a corner at the other end. But the home side broke out of defence more quickly than the Gs could recover and the Tooting team were two nil up within a couple of minutes of the first goal.
As the hosts were looking to go into fourth place in the League and chase for promotion, if they could get all three points today, while the juxtaposed Gs were facing the opposite fate at the bottom of the table, it could all have gone downhill from there, but the Gs regrouped and put together some threatening moves. But it was Adrian Giles who was by far the busier of the keepers in the first half. He produced a couple of terrific stops to keep the Gs in it at 2-0 down at half time.
The second half saw the Gs step up again as they have in the past and began pressurising the home side further up the pitch and battling for 50/50 balls with a bit more belief. Again, this pot pourri of Gs players started winning a fair few corners and putting pressure on their hosts.
Roberto Dos Santos Saraiva had been showing some promise wide on the opposite wing to Jordan Cavender during the first half and at around 20 minutes into the second half he made a good break down the left flank for the Gs and delivered a terrific cross into the area where Jahmal Ramsey got a fine glancing header on the ball to put it beyond the despairing keeper and pull a goal back for the Gs.
As you would expect that gave a bit of a lift to the Gs youngsters who were now upping their game.
Roberto got through one on one with the home keeper who did well to foil his attempt and we also had a shout for a hand ball in the area, but despite a terrific second half from the lads we could not level the score. Elijah Carter was replaced by George Smith. Dom Hardisty came on to replace Raisan Francis who I presume had a bit of a niggle. Captain Rory Sellick dropped back to partner Andy Tarrant while Charlie Chennel moved to left back. This gave Dom a new role in the midfield, which he seemed to relish. Reegan Scotcher was at right back. Shariff Madeebo came on for Jordan Cavender.
At the end of the game the TB manager was good enough to congratulate Rory on his team’s second half performance.
There were lots of good performances throughout all the squad on the day and all is not yet lost, despite Eversley winning and setting us down at the foot of the table. We desperately need points without doubt and I am sure that they will come if we can tighten up in the midfield and keep working as hard as we did in the second half of this game.
COYG’s
No Stats from Michael as it is half term and he is away.