*** Match Thread*** Tue 27/11 19:15 WES1 Cork Exiles FC

I am in

Great win all round good football played again and some great goals.

Going 2 down to come back and win 4-2 was very nice.

Well done on the goal mark you deserved it, played well.

Excellent win. Their get it forward early approach gave them the upper hand in the 1st quarter while we were slow to adapt to the slippery surface (are we all wearing the right footwear? I can recall 3 of our players slipping, none of theirs). We do need to be more pragmatic at times and realize that you don't have the right to try take the ball down in greasy conditions in your own half if you're under any sort of pressure. They realized that and cleared their lines early and effectively, which gave some good ball to their strikers, some poor ball, but with the slippery conditions meaning the ball could go anywhere and with us overplaying it at the back at times and giving it to them, they got more than scraps off that approach. Both goals were softly conceded to put us 2-0 down.

We really need to listen better and visibly acknowledge constructive feedback and take it onboard. We played between 5-10 passes in the first half not to feet but ahead of the man: that works perfectly in dry conditions as it means he takes possession of go-forward ball with moment. On a night like last night, it simply meant the ball fizzed beyond the man so it absolutely had to be played to feet. The one I pulled Darren up on was just one example of several cases where our admirable disposition towards playing passing football too often causes us to make poor judgements: going across goal under pressure in your own half, your priority is not to control it to gain quality possession, it's to remove risk to your own goal so you can't say you had 2 touches but the problem was getting it under control. First touch should be to bang it into the corner or out for a throw (if under pressure in front of your own box and it being a tricky ball to control). Any coach outside of the top levels will tell you that.

By no means do I claim to be correct 100% of the time in my observations and comments I'll raise with players. It does seem though that almost every time the player getting the feedback reaches for a defensive comment to explain/justify it. I'm definitely not wrong 100% of the time. The only way that we improve is if we listen to constructive feedback, show we acknowledge it, and then consider if we do need to take it onboard and actively address it.


After the 1st quarter we got used to the surface and the passes started sticking and we were the better team from then on. Absolutely cracking finishes from Damien and Dave for the first two goals to get us level just before the break. The passing moves for both those goals and the third, which saw Dave whip in a beautiful left-pegged cross (he seemed as surprised as anyone that it worked!) for Collie to finish with a smashing header, were excellent team moves. Take note of how much joy we had this week and last week with balls into strikers' feet then either laid off out wide (if received centrally) or back inside (if played into the channel) - the midfield runners receiving those layoffs generally find themselves running into loads of space and it causes a lot of damage. We've made noticeably improvements in our willingness to play the ball from midfield into the channels for forwards to run onto, though it's still an area to focus on doing more as it tends to have a great pay off in terms of chances it creates and for the amount of possession we've been having as a team, we're still not bringing our strikers into the game in the final third often enough.

The 4th goal where Darren led a penetrating counter-attack as they pushed for the equaliser was for me a case in point for what Boardeaux are all about: having picked it up on the halfway and made it into the penalty box and with a reasonable chance of scoring, he didn't think about getting his name on the scoreboard; instead he drew the defender and keeper and laid it off to Mark who was in an even better position having burst a gut to get there, and when Mark finished coolly, that was game, set, match and no worries about a late equaliser. Fair play.

So all in all, a really strong performance based on a foundation of passing football and working hard to win it back when we lose it. My only regret is that we were so short of core players when we played them at the earlier in the season - no way we'd have lost 4-0 playing like last night.

Cheers Darren.

Was a really good comeback lads, well done!

FrankGrimes wrote: »

Excellent win. Their get it forward early approach gave them the upper hand in the 1st quarter while we were slow to adapt to the slippery surface (are we all wearing the right footwear? I can recall 3 of our players slipping, none of theirs). We do need to be more pragmatic at times and realize that you don't have the right to try take the ball down in greasy conditions in your own half if you're under any sort of pressure. They realized that and cleared their lines early and effectively, which gave some good ball to their strikers, some poor ball, but with the slippery conditions meaning the ball could go anywhere and with us overplaying it at the back at times and giving it to them, they got more than scraps off that approach. Both goals were softly conceded to put us 2-0 down.

We really need to listen better and visibly acknowledge constructive feedback and take it onboard. We played between 5-10 passes in the first half not to feet but ahead of the man: that works perfectly in dry conditions as it means he takes possession of go-forward ball with moment. On a night like last night, it simply meant the ball fizzed beyond the man so it absolutely had to be played to feet. The one I pulled Darren up on was just one example of several cases where our admirable disposition towards playing passing football too often causes us to make poor judgements: going across goal under pressure in your own half, your priority is not to control it to gain quality possession, it's to remove risk to your own goal so you can't say you had 2 touches but the problem was getting it under control. First touch should be to bang it into the corner or out for a throw (if under pressure in front of your own box and it being a tricky ball to control). Any coach outside of the top levels will tell you that.

By no means do I claim to be correct 100% of the time in my observations and comments I'll raise with players. It does seem though that almost every time the player getting the feedback reaches for a defensive comment to explain/justify it. I'm definitely not wrong 100% of the time. The only way that we improve is if we listen to constructive feedback, show we acknowledge it, and then consider if we do need to take it onboard and actively address it.


After the 1st quarter we got used to the surface and the passes started sticking and we were the better team from then on. Absolutely cracking finishes from Damien and Dave for the first two goals to get us level just before the break. The passing moves for both those goals and the third, which saw Dave whip in a beautiful left-pegged cross (he seemed as surprised as anyone that it worked!) for Collie to finish with a smashing header, were excellent team moves. Take note of how much joy we had this week and last week with balls into strikers' feet then either laid off out wide (if received centrally) or back inside (if played into the channel) - the midfield runners receiving those layoffs generally find themselves running into loads of space and it causes a lot of damage. We've made noticeably improvements in our willingness to play the ball from midfield into the channels for forwards to run onto, though it's still an area to focus on doing more as it tends to have a great pay off in terms of chances it creates and for the amount of possession we've been having as a team, we're still not bringing our strikers into the game in the final third often enough.

The 4th goal where Darren led a penetrating counter-attack as they pushed for the equaliser was for me a case in point for what Boardeaux are all about: having picked it up on the halfway and made it into the penalty box and with a reasonable chance of scoring, he didn't think about getting his name on the scoreboard; instead he drew the defender and keeper and laid it off to Mark who was in an even better position having burst a gut to get there, and when Mark finished coolly, that was game, set, match and no worries about a late equaliser. Fair play.

So all in all, a really strong performance based on a foundation of passing football and working hard to win it back when we lose it. My only regret is that we were so short of core players when we played them at the earlier in the season - no way we'd have lost 4-0 playing like last night.

See I've only ever played at the top of the game

Fair enough tho I lost it twice in my own half, but I just can't stand hoofing the ball up the pitch, but granted its not a normal pitch up there and getting the ball under possession is not always possible so perhaps the odd time ill have to resort to the odd muntjac up field.

Draupnir wrote: »

It's ok Darren, I had you covered for the second one. To be fair the ball was that far ahead of you that I didn't think you could even hoof it.

Great win lads, would have been easy for the heads to go down but we kept going. Very impressed by the commitment being shown by everyone. I even saw Wes pass the ball on two occassions.

I didn't think I could either but hey
Next 3 games are all against teams below us, if we can win these before the Xmas break its a good chance to really close the gap.

Top 2 teams drew this week so 2 points gained.