Petering out danger after weak shows
IF I had to sum up County’s performances against Brackley this week that word would be weak.
We played some lovely stuff but, with the exception of Jason Oswell’s tap in during the Trophy game, in front of goal we were weak.
We were also weak in the decision making.
Time and again the obvious ball was one way but which ever player made a telling run, or found himself with the ball at his feet, with time and space, the final ball was wasted by a misplaced pass or an over hit ball.
Which means, with all the hope in the world, it looks like the Cheshire Senior Cup is all we’ve got left to play for.
We’ve 11 games left and there are points to win but with the performances over the last week adding to our dismal form, I fear another season will peter out.
Brackley are a good side, nothing extraordinary but what they do, they do well.
At St James Park last Tuesday they soaked up all the pressure and scored two goals that were largely down to our poor decision making, Scott Duxbury and Jimmy Ball getting in each other’s way for the first and Scott again missing his tackle for their second.
The problem, though, was that where we dominated the play we couldn’t force the ball between the posts. We had plenty of chances but Warburton, Stephenson and Oswell all failed to get a meaningful shot on target.
The same was largely true on Saturday; our defence did nothing wrong but in front of them the midfield made poor decisions. Duxbury and Thomas put plenty of crosses in but more often than not, there was no one busting a gut to get on the end of them.
It was looking for all the world like a 0-0, Oswell fouls Thomas on the half way line and the Saints pounce for the only goal of the game.
The result leaves us mid-table, in reality just about as close to the relegation spaces as the play-offs and yes, there are still points to play for.
If we can take points off or even beat the likes of Kidderminster, Chorley, Bradford and Blyth we might just have a chance but we must beat the likes of Boston, Gainsborough, Leamington, Tamworth and Telford, too, if not it’ll be another season to chalk off as a failure.