Well it only seemed like yesterday that I posted the match report…
Plenty up for discussion this time around. As a blog that has been described as ‘essential for Dons fans’ (that is a true quote by the way…) it would be wrong of me not to explore first a comment that has been made by several people so far. That is, the ‘only one goal from two games, and that was a penalty’ comment. As I said in pre-season, I would be more worried if we weren’t creating chances at all, but as it is, we aren’t scoring because we aren’t making enough of these opportunities rather than creating nothing.
Whereas last year the players seemed to gell pretty quickly, this season players are having difficulty reading each other. Its not surprising, given last year we were in a part time league. Before the season kicked off, we had fifteen training session. The first eight or so dealt with fitness (and for what its worth, we do look very fit.), leaving little time to work on what Terry refers to as ‘pattern of play’.
And before anyone mentions we played a fellow part time club on Tuesday, bear in mind their is a difference between a clubs professional status and their experience. Eastbourne had a one year head start on us on Tuesday, and it turned out to be a massive advantage to them.
The large number of games mean the side should come together pretty quickly, if we have difficulty hitting the net into September I may start to feel some concern. The Tuesday/Saturday pattern will help us recover quicker, if goals and a win don’t come at Kettering (and in my opinion we should go there expecting little) we have Salisbury, then Altrincham.
Anyway, time constraints have forced me to shorten my babbling, so I’ll cut straight to the chase – those match ratings you all love so much!
Pullen 5
Garrard 4
Hussey 5
Gregory 5
Lorraine 6
Johnson 6
Duncan 6
Taylor 5
Kedwell 5
Main 4
Godfrey 4
SUBS
Hatton 5
Moore 6
Again, some low marking even by my own very harsh standards. To explain. I thought my Dons man of the match was Johnson, him and Lorraine performed exactly to my expectations. Moore’s half hour cameo would have been worth more had it been longer, that’s not exactly his fault but on a bad day at least he can hold his head up.
The Anonymous Don 