Thanks to Deerness for getting the game on, the weather has been drier this week but the pitch was still pretty heavy and had lots of holes in it from the local wildlife, thankfully no injuries and surface held up well.

This was the first time the two teams had met so it was a little into the unknown and with Amir and Max missing and Mason recovering from illness, we adopted a 1-3-4-1 formation which going forward worked well but not some much in transition. After 15 minutes of a fairly even first half, we reverted back to 1-3-1-3-1 and controlled the game far better.

Following our recent work on combination core moves, Shaun and I really stressed the importance of putting training into practice and asking the players to really try to "combine to create", and I must say the players took on this challenge and played some lovely football at times, right the way through the team, stating with the back 4. With Aodan rolling the ball out to full back and Taylor putting his foot on the ball and either carrying it forward or passing into midfield we really started moving Deerness around. Penny, Max, James and Elliott all looked to play 1-2s or through balls and Jacob was dropping the ball off to play out, back and through combinations to a 3rd man running. This is all pretty highly technical stuff but the kids looked like they'd been doing it for years and looked to be really enjoying it. It's rare that we see Connor or Callum bomb past wide players on the overlap but they really gave that a go today.

After all this excellent effort and play, we went a goal behind. I've literally no idea how this happened and the first half finished 1 nil to Deerness.

Message at half time was very clear, keep playing this type of football and don't let your emotions control you. 10 minutes into the second half we were back on level terms when Penny played a pass into James, who beat his man and fired a low shot into the bottom corner from the edge of the box. It was a lovely goal and nothing less than the team deserved. The patterns of play continued and 10 minutes later, Max Johnson broke through from a deep lying position, powered passed the Deerness defender, who was brilliant on the day, and finished with real composure and skill. It's hard to describe the finish, Max seemed to be able to scoop the ball over the on rushing keeper and into the corner despite being under tremendous pressure and the ball being slightly behind him. Incredible finish in many respects.

The second half played out with Rutherford in relative control and without Deerness carving out huge chances or Aodan making a save. This was due to the fact our back 3 played unbelievably well. Connor seemed to be riding the crest of a wave after being named player of the season by Ian Skinner, the UEFA A Licence Coach, on Wednesday. He was committed and strong in the tackle, spoke well, concentrated through out and played some brilliant football. He always wanted the ball and passed with great accuracy. Taylor looked 10 feet tall in defence, anything through the middle was his and his alone, winning headers, making tackles and bringing the ball out of defence with confidence and ease. The stand out performer however was Callum at left back. Callum, much like Conner, spoke well, combined with his winger, passing the ball forward with accuracy. The key difference was Callum was playing against Deernees' best attackers, the right back and right winger. Callum won his 1v1 (sometimes 2v1) battle hands down, rarely did the winger or full back go passed Callum and when they did, he recovered and won the ball back. It was a fantastic performance and worthy of the man of the match award.

So 2-1 the game finished and we finished 2023 with a brilliant performance and win. Well done to all involved today, we've said on many occasions that match is a squad game and every single player played a huge part today, Shaun and I were very proud of you all and I hope you're proud of yourselves.

Scott

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