***Match Thread*** Tues 4/1 20:15 Wes2 -vs- Pocket Rockets

Yeh well done lads, good to keep our momentum going into the new year and that's a very decent 3 points as they are a good side who can play ball when given space. The wind just got worse and worse and made it hard for us to get the ball down in the 2nd half.

Special mention for Rob, Keith's brother, who stepped in to make up 11 given the unusually high number of absences we had and had a blinder at left full.

For all the posession we allowed them to have in the first half we were the ones who looked more threatening when we managed to get the ball down, which was damn hard to do in that wind. They were no great shakes defensively either so in conditions more conducive to playing passing football, we'd have built on the 2-0 lead I reckon.

We won because we made better use of the ball, not because of the way we set ourselves up. First half they literally played 1 or 2 at the back and threw men forward. Instead of saying let them at it, we're better attacking than they are, we sat very, very deep even with the wind at our backs and that put us under a lot of pressure at times. You can either look to impose yourself on the opposition or react to deal with their threats and we always tend to do the latter despite all the evidence demonstrating that our strength is making the opposition worry about us (we have a great defence too, but it's our attacking play that sets us apart). Faced with similar circumstances in the 2nd half (though, as mentioned above, the wind did get very bad in the last quarter), they still pushed forward and as a result we didn't have the same possession in their half that we allowed them. That said, we played lovely football in spells and all bets are off in that last 10 minutes wind, but we came close to letting them get a lead in the 1st half by making the exact same mistake we made against them last time, so it's important to just call it out as a marker to ensurethat we learn that lesson cos if we do, it'll stand to us in the tough games to come.

Let that not detract from the overall point though - that was a very assured performance in difficult conditions and crucially gets us off to a good post-break start which we've struggled with previously, just one of many improvements we've made this season. And another clean sheet thanks to some excellent defensive work by the back 4 and central midfielders has us leading the way on points, goals for and goals against so if we keep that up we'll be flying.