CLONTARF VILLA

FOOTBALL CLUB

THE DOC'S POSTMORTEM

18th October 2003 - Glasnevin (A)

If we are not careful we will get the reputation of draw specialists in Div-1A Saturday! Of the 4 games we have played to date we have drawn 3 of them. In truth, this game against Glasnevin should have been our first victory this season. After a shaky first 15 or 20 minutes we settled down and played some nice football. To be honest clear cut chances for both teams were at a premium for the majority of the first half, and neither 'keeper was unduly troubled. The one black spot on the first half was the injury to Alan who came off mid-way through the half with a knee injury. Declan replaced him (to make his debut) and this meant Kieran moved into central midfield where he had a great game.

From the start of the second half we looked as though we had the belief to win and we took the game to The Diggers. Although a physically strong and tall team we troubled them when we used our short passing game. Up front John and Hugh chased every through ball and there was some lovely creative midfield play from French import Lenny!

Midway through the second half we won a corner which when floated across was only half cleared by the Diggers defence, it fell nicely to the right boot of Mark McCormack who hit a lovely half volley into the bottom left hand corner, giving their 'keeper no chance at all. The goal seemed to give us confidence and any attacking option Glasnevin had was dealt with by our defence who played very solidly all game. Possibly a minor turning point in the game was the substitution of Gerry Shanley from right back. soon after he was taken off a Diggers free kick (taken from the wrong place) was floated into the box and for once we didn't deal with it - and it resulted in the equaliser. Even after they equalised we had one or two glorious chances to win the game - a one on one and a free header from about 8 yards, both falling to Lenny. Unfortunately neither were converted.

I have complained about the lack of numbers on many occasions, so I have to praise the effort of all who turned up this week. Lets keep up the good work and the first victory can only be around the corner.