Vs Killamarsh (CUP) 05/02/17

THE LINEUP:
GK: Cameron
RB: Adam
CB: Ben D
CB: Ethan
LB: Nathan

RM: Sam K
CM: Jon
CM: Alex
LM: Sam H

CF: Owen
ST: Alfie

THE OPPOSITION:
Despite being a division lower than EMU's, Killamarsh are a solid side that are very organised and have a couple of good individual players in the attacking areas. Apart from that they were an unknown quantity to us.

THE MATCH:
Despite decent weather, the pitch was cutting up all over the place which made the ball bobble and the surface slippery. It was a lively start as within the first minute of the match EMU's took a one nil lead as Owen blocked the defenders clearance, then ran onto the deflection and slotted to ball passed the goalkeeper at his near post. But EMU's fast start was cut short as they failed to clear the ball and the Killamarsh striker looped the ball right into the top left corner of the goal just a couple of minutes later. And Killamarsh's comeback was complete 10 minutes in as again, EMU's failed to clear a corner and the ball was struck hard into the bottom right corner giving myself no chance again. After that there wasn't really any chances to report on but Killamarsh were clear on top and EMU's looked like they didn't care.
HALFTIME SCORE: KILLAMARSH 2-1 EMU's

The second half started pretty much the same way the first half ended, with EMU's looking half asleep and Killamarsh having the majority of the ball. And in all truth there wasn't any highlights at all until the last 10 minutes as EMU's struggled to hold on. But finally we had a goal but not the score line that you would've expected...Somehow Alfie managed to fire the ball in from close range and give EMU's a moment of hope with an equaliser. But once again, EMU's failed to switch on and Killamarsh put the final nail in the coffin with a superb strike into the top right corner. An unstoppable effort with just 5 minutes left, but two controversial decisions made by the referee after the goal didn't do EMU's any favours. The first came from my long ball forward which was flicked on into the path of Owen who put the ball into the net, but the ref deemed Owen to be offside, a close call for Killamarsh. The second incident came when the Jon was slipped through one on one and managed to get a tame shot away but as he struck the ball he was pushed by one defender and tackled to the ground by two others. But the ref deemed it a fair tackle and soon after the game finish, which increased to hostility between the two sides and the referee.
FULLTIME SCORE: KILLAMARSH 3-2 EMU's

PLAYER RATINGS:
Cameron: had a decent game but didn't really have a great deal to do and couldn't do anything about the goals. My distribution was good and did well to carry on with an injury. 7/10
Adam: was poor throughout the game, offered nothing to the side and didn't show any desire. 4/10
Ben D: was one of the best players on the pitch, a good leader, defender and had great footwork. 9/10
Ethan: played well but struggled as the team underperformed. 7/10
Nathan: didn't really seem to have much to do but still didn't really perform. 6/10
Sam K: again, didn't seem to get involved, looked like he couldn't care less about the game. 5/10
Jon: had a decent game, but by his standards he was well off the pace. 7/10
Alex: similar to Jon, played okay but by his standards, was poor. 6/10
Sam H: probably his worst game in a EMU's shirt, didn't get on the ball much and when he douche gave it away to the opposition. 3/10
Owen: scored a good goal but seemed to struggle with an injury throughout. 7/10
Alfie: not his best game but did at least try to effect the match and did grab a goal. 8/10

ON A PERSONAL NOTE:
This is a hard game for me not to slate for many reasons, whether it's the poor performance, the awful refereeing or the shocking pitch. But I'll try to keep it short and and sweet, but firstly the goals we conceded were pretty much unsavable, but poor defensively as we had plenty of chances to clear the ball. The pitch was barely playable for reasons I have explained. And how the ref failed to give us a penalty in that game was ridiculous, and don't even mention the goal that never was! As you may be able to tell, I'm very annoyed at the performance and the result. But the league is more important and we need to regroup and pull ourselves together.