Rutherford took on Deerness Valley at home on a pleasant bank holiday weekend with the pitch in ok condition given the damp start to the week. Rutherford, despite the result results, have performed well, hitting all the major markers Shaun and I identify with the players, so there seemed very little sense in changing the line up for this game with the exception of Jack starting in goal instead of Aodan as part of the standard keeper rotation we employ.

Deerness are a good side, we played then just before Christmas '23 and won the game 2-1 in a hard fought game, since then Deerness have gone on an impressive run, only losing 2 games since. They have a solid defence with a good goalkeeper and 2 or 3 quick defenders but as we've seen this season, when we out fight and out run teams, we can certainly out play them and this was the message today.

The first 8 minutes of the game, it was all Rutherford. Front foot, aggressive, quick passing and forcing mistake all over the park. Within the first 30 seconds Rutherford forced a half chance which was cleared for a corner. On 3 minutes, Elliott intercepted an attempted pass and slipped Max Billingham in who raced through on goal only to be denied by an excellent 1v1 save by the Deerness keeper. Then on 4 minutes, James put Max Billingham through with a lobbed pass over the top of the Deerness defence, the keeper came rushing out and Max had the presence of mind to lob the ball over the keeper which looked like it was going to drop in but unfortunately it hit the base of the post instead. Max was first to the ball and laid it back to the Joe who couldn't keep his shot down. On 9 minutes, Rutherfords high press forced Deerness into a mistake and the ball broke to the edge of the box for Mason to try a curling shot which only narrowly went over the bar.

From the resulting goal kick, Deerness score. It's a long punt from the keeper which bounces in to the midfield, it's half cleared by Joe back to a Deerness player who plays it wide to the right winger, Callum half clears the pass but ricochets it's way though to the winger who take a cross shot which just evades Elliott who has come across to cover and an unmarked Deerness player at the back post taps in.

This was the first time Deerness had ventured into our half and it really knocked the stuffing out of us and was a sign of things to come. I've watched the video back and there's a number of simple mistakes which cause this goal to come about. Elliott's starting position is too high on the goal kick, Joe and Callum must win the two challenges and because Elliott was too high on the goal kick he can't recover in time to pick up his man at the back post. A series of errors which would occur too often today and cost Rutherford dearly.

Deerness have a good 4 minute spell and get a few more shots in at the Rutherford goal before the best move of the half, probably the match occurs. On the right hand side, Elliott turns two Deerness players and plays the ball wide to Max Johnson who flicks the ball around the corner back to the Elliott, who has continued his run. Elliott feeds the ball out James Lee who slips a through ball into Max Billinghams path but unfortunately it's just slightly over hit a the Deerness keeper collects (27 minute is the marker on Veo). In this passage of play is all what we're good at, individual skill and combination passes but this season our finishing touches haven't quite been up to the same standard.

The next goal was going to the be the key and unfortunately it came for Deerness and its a terrible goal to concede from a Rutherford point of view. We're all over the place positionally and the goal is scored on the counter attack. Our positioning from our goal kick is where the problems start. Aodan, Penny and Amir are all too high which results in Max Johnson dropping too deep to collect the ball from Joe. We eventually shovel the ball out to Penny and we play some nice football from here. Penny into Jacob, who spots Aodan on the left and just has a switch ball cut out. Such is our willingness to get forward, we completely abandon any form of shape or discipline and leave Callum and Taylor 2v5 at the back. Joe has bombed on, Max Johnson is trying to make up the ground he lost from dropping too deep, Amir has tried to support the attack rather than sitting in. One boot forward from the Deerness fullback beats the entire Rutherford team. Deerness work it from here but it doesn't need to be accurate football, they simply kick the ball in the acres of space and it's a tap in. As the ball enters the goal, Jack is facing 4 Deerness players.

Half time and we spoke out our shape, particularly from restarts and how we need to be far more discipled but unfortunately the message didn't land and the second half was the worst performance of the season by some distance. The game was very scrappy from our point of view, very few passes were completed and we were going too long, too quickly and the ball was being returned with interest. Deerness had the better of the second half, there's no doubt about that and they had multiple shots on our goal which was a target when set the team before kick off, "close down shots". The Deerness 3rd goal comes from our corner. We opt, for some unknown reason, to cross the ball directly into the Deerness box, they clear easily, break down and score with a low shot into the bottom corner. The 4th goal comes shortly afterwards, again from a Rutherford attack. Max Billingham plays a ball into the box from the right hand side which the keeper collects and bowls out the left. James loses a 50/50 and the switch of play is on due to the fact the back 3 is totally out of shape. Callum is the deepest player when he should be the highest and Connor vice versa (is the highest, when he should be the deepest). So it's an easy ball into the Deerness striker who finishes well. 5th and 6ths goals are mistakes, 5th is a corner where Elliott and Mason lose the same player who taps in from 4 yards out and the 6th is from a goal kick and a pattern of play we've never used before but the game and players were done by this point.

Jack made some excellent saves, none more so than the one from outside the box which he got a big right hand to and palm it away. Some excellent calls to clear up through balls and distribution from hands was good but he wasn't well protected today and the sheer weight of shots on goal were always going to take their toll.

In our last 3 games we've had more possession than all 3 teams, completed more passes than all 3 teams (a third more than Deerness today) and more combination passes (3 or more passes) than all 3 teams. However, we've conceded more goals, conceded more shots and lost more duels (aka Possession Won) than all 3 teams.

We currently sit 10th in the league, 3 points above Washington in 13th (last) possession having played 3 games more than them. we have 2 points more than 11th and 12th having played less games. The top 4 have opened up a game but from 5th down, there's not much in it and there's a few familiar names in that pack who we still have to play. In my opinion we're good enough to finish the season strongly but we need to tighten up out of possession. That's my job to correct and I'm sure the players will show me and Shaun the hard work and excellent attitude they have in the past, o.ur next training block starts on Wednesday

Man of the Match was Elliott, he worked very hard and always looked to get his foot on the ball and play forwards. Mason is another honourable mention who did the same.

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