Hampshire Senior Cup, Round 1
Tuesday 7th September 2010, 7.45pm

Not really a match report this, more a summary and my personal musings on what was a very good team effort last night in the first round of the Hampshire Senior Cup.

As the great Greevsie says, "it's a funny old game". I went along not frankly expecting to see anything too different from our defeat at home to Brading Town on Saturday in the FA Vase. Although Brading, like Blackfield, play a level higher than us and have started the season well, and we are currently without several first team regulars - so it all pointed to the formality of a Brading win - I didn't feel we did ourselves justice on Saturday. Brading looked to me like a team taking us a little for granted, and at only 1 up at the break (it should have been more) they played with a surprising shakiness and lack of composure in the early part of the second half. With more commitment from certain players, and a bit more conviction up front (i.e. taking a pop at goal instead of the extra touch), we might have caused them an upset. I didn't want to say anything and sound critical of a team that, on paper, would have been expected to lose by more than the odd goal against Brading... but I came away from that game frustrated and was happy to leave Drummie to put more of a level-headed gloss on the performance with his match report on the forum.

Last night proved to me that, as a squad of players, we did have more in us than we showed at the weekend. Blackfield were narrowly beaten 3-2 by Brading in the league recently, so you might say after losing 1-0 against their victors, beating them 1-0 sounds about right. But in truth the two performances were very different and, had we played like that against Brading, we might have done the same to them. Last night I saw a fully committed performance from almost every player, including those who came off the bench.

Ian Daniels was back in defence after being unavailable at the weekend and that was a crucial factor, but Keiron and Paul Mas were missing, as well as still Jermaine, Jon and Simeon. And yet we still played the way I think most of us would want to see us playing - moving the ball well, not too many long balls, holding the ball (well, a good part of the time) and a good tempo to our play. The fact that players are coming in and fitting in to that way of playing is a credit to them but also to Nev and Whopper. It bodes well for the future and last night's performance suggests we have more depth in the squad than I thought.

Mario's goal in extra time was a lovely solo run across the edge of the penalty area before hitting a fierce left foot drive into the corner. There were a lot of good, committed performances right through the team. Matt Turnbull's and Nick Kingston's workrate was phenomenal and I was well impressed by young Simon Annetts up front. Jack ruled the central midfield - some wonderful passes - with Phil taking it on at every opportunity, and Ian and Victor were solid at the back and Dan looked confident in goal and handled crosses well all night. Blackfield's shooting was mostly restricted to shots from some way out - most way off target. They hit the post with one gilt edged chance, but I can't think of too many other good chances despite a lot of possession in attack.

If there was one player that showed for me the difference between Saturday and last night, it was Ashley Charles. Ash was anonimous in the game on Saturday, and I hope he won't mind me saying and would agree. I tried to encourage him from where I was standing, but he seemed totally out of his depth until eventually taken off. Last night he came off the bench and was a different player, sharper, quicker to the ball, holding it up, more confident; he played his part in the victory. Well done Ash, well done lads. [kob]

TEAM: Dan Smith, Nathan Stamp, Matt Turnbull, Victor Sesay, Ian Daniels, Phil Grove, Jack Smillie (captain), Nick Kingston, Simon Annetts, Dwayne Winter, Mario Nurse. Subs: Tom Lovett, Ashley Charles, Ryan Warner and (sorry, I'm missing a name).