Bluebell Banter

Good entertaining game in the end, this one, after a pretty mediocre first half, in which I thought neither side created very much. We were the better side 2nd half on balance and could have won it. Pity Jake's cracking freekick couldn't beat the bar after it beat their keeper all ends up.

The half time talk did wonders. We came out firing, passing & moving ( at last on the ground, and using width, cos the 1st half was a lot of long ball hit & hope), equalised in a flash with a smart short passing move and could have gone on from there. To be fair to Hungerford, they stuck at it and ended the game well on top, so I left thankful we are still in the hat.

Thought Jake had a great game on the right, Edd was a rock as usual & a mention for Lee who pulled off 3 or 4 class saves. Not sure about Burt, he has scored a few but doesn't get as involved over the 90 mins as I would hope) and Joe seems to have to do most of the donkey work up front.

Still toying with the idea of the trip along the M4 on Tues, cos the replay has the makings of another good contest and is definitely not over yet, providing we remember the 2nd half tactics and not the 1st half.

As you say, gd, 1st half was a total non-event and we were completely outplayed.
Our players looked like they just didn't want the ball and kept thumping it as far away as possible, as quickly as possible.

The big kick up front for Reynolds to knock on is a completely failed and discredited tactic and has never yielded any other result that returning possession to the opposition.

It probably doesn't help that we are struggling in midfield due to the lack of even one, let alone two, central midfielders......and that isn't a downer on Edd who has been M.o.t.M in probably 8 out of 10 games this season, just a simple observation that square pegs don't fit round holes. Compare us with Hungerford yesterday who had a couple of central midfielders who did their job efficiently and comfortably and were able to build up the forward momentum with controlled, passing football.

One thing I did enjoy about the first half was that interesting little battle between Callum Stewart and their no.7. Pleased to say that Callum won that joust hands down and went on to have a really good game showing some great control, passing and movement and was a great asset in that left back position when we were under a lot of pressure and also supported Zane well too.

Like last week v Andover, we came out 2nd half a different side and scored a well worked goal which Jake happily blasted into the net. We suddenly realised that the game is called FOOTball for a very good reason.....you get the best results when using your feet. (First half we were playing HEADball!!) and we started passing , spreading the ball wide and generally doing what this squad does best, keeping the ball on the deck and pressing . Hungerford struggled to cope and were in danger of losing the plot for a while.........something to exploit on Tuesday maybe, they didn't look happy when under pressure.

After hitting the bar and the upright I think we were unlucky not to go ahead, however, we also have Lee to thank for some great saves and there was also a goal line clearance and last 10 minutes we were under the cosh.....All in all an excellent Cup Tie and like you, gd, I'm planning to go up on Tuesday .

See you later then, Mark. Barney and I will be there, I will no doubt be shouting at the ref and 'the boy' will be 'barking' his usual support.

No worries, see you there.....Rob and Milburn from Burton/Marshfield way will be there too........they'll make enough noise for all of us, lol!