Sunday 24 February 2008 vs. Whiston Wildcats (away)

Up on Guilthwaite Hill on a cold and windy afternoon for our last game in February.

I had decided on a bit of squad rotation in order to give a start to one or two who had been coming on from the bench lately.

Having had a weekend off due to the bad weather, we were slow to start and struggled to find any rhythm or tempo. It was all very scrappy with no one being able to take command and move the ball to where it should be in order for us to make progress.

It was Sam Whittaker who broke the deadlock with a well-taken goal fifteen minutes in. We couldn’t seem to build on this, however, and the game reverted back to an untidy to-and-fro affair.

In accommodating the players I had wanted to start, I’d finally come to the conclusion that a 4-3-3 was the best formation; three up front, but with Ross sitting a little deeper than Sam and Danny. Joe and Chris were working the flanks, with Will holding midfield. To be honest, this was leaving us a little bit exposed through the middle, and Whiston began to exploit this more and more as the half wore on. I was just about to strengthen midfield when Ross got a second for us with 30 minutes gone.

At half time Neil and I spoke about the need to compete more and be stronger when going into tackles.

I put Ants on in midfield with Will, and we hadn’t been going again for very long when Sam netted his second and our third. This was better, and we were a lot more cohesive now with the two commanding central midfield. I started making the other substitutions that I’d mapped out - Alex Hewitt for Joe, Mat for Chris, Connor for Will. All of this freshened us up, but it must be said that all of those who came off had worked hard and played their part well. I was particularly disappointed for Joe who had the ball in the net only to be ruled offside.

And then we went to sleep at the back and let in a ‘soft’ goal when nobody was paying attention. To be honest, I didn’t even see it as I was talking to one of the players who had just come off. Still Danny and Sam - supported by Ross, Alex and Mat - were creating some good openings, and I was really pleased when Sam rounded off his hat trick. From then on it was pretty much one way traffic, and perhaps only tiredness creeping in on a cold day prevented us from adding to our haul.

Anyway, another three points in the bag. Excellent performances from Tom, Ben and Ollie (who nearly curled a free-kick in late on), and Lew and Alex were as unshakeable as ever. Connor and Ants snapped and snarled and bossed midfield, and Ross and Danny toiled tirelessly.

Although it hadn’t been a ‘beautiful’ game, no matter - 26 points now and just 3 behind Wadsley Bridge (in fourth place), and us with a game in hand!