Virginia Water boss Sams left to lament 'funny five minutes' against Heath
Adam Sams was left to lament a brief moment that had a significant impact on Virginia Water's performance in their recent league defeat to Flackwell Heath at Stag Meadow.
For most of the opening 45 minutes on Saturday, the Waters well-matched the Heathens, with much of the football being played in the middle of the park.
However, Chris Ayres' men were able to capitalise on a ‘funny five minutes’ by Sams’ side at the end of the first half to go into the break with a twogoal advantage.
Much to the frustration of the home support, the scoreline remained the same until the final whistle with the Waters failing to conjure up any notable chances before and after the Heathens faltered from the penalty spot around the hour mark.
“We’re disappointed with our performance. A funny five minutes cost us the game,” said Sams at full-time. “It was just before half-time, our game management wasn’t good enough – which we had been working on – and they managed to score twice.
“It’s a shame because I think both sides matched each other for the majority of the first half. That period at the end of the first half gave us an uphill task in the second. We knew if we got a goal early into the second half, there would be of been a different outcome. But, we struggled to create chances and that’s disappointing.
“We had to get a lot closer to them, stop them from playing. We had to create but it was difficult with the wind. A few times, we played football in the wrong areas of the pitch. They played higher up the pitch, that was difficult to compete with. A goal could have put us on the front foot.
“If they had scored that (the penalty) it would have been game over. So, we had a chance, but those funny five minutes killed us really, our belief of getting a result.”
Sams added: “Flackwell are a good side, and we knew today that a defeat isn’t going to hurt us too much. We need to beat the teams around us. Flackwell and Rayners Lane are the two teams in a league of their own.
“It would’ve been nice to get a result but we’ve got games coming up, thick and fast, that we need to win. As we said to the boys in there, we can’t get too disheartened with the result, but we’ve got to react on Tuesday.”
Virginia Water's disappointing week continued on Tuesday night as they bowed out of the Surrey Senior County Cup following a 3-2 home defeat to AFC Croydon Athletic.
They are next in Combined Counties Premier Division North action this Saturday when they face Ardley United away.