Game Week 15 v BRANDON COMMUNITY YOUTH BLUES

Two away games in 4 days, this time we travelled to Brandon.

Brandon are a team we know very well and our games against them are always competitive and always seem to have an edge. I think this comes back to an under 9’s tournament we held many years ago and they beat us in the final in a game we totally and utterly dominated. Since then we’ve played them in leagues, cups, tournaments and preseason friendlies, all those games have been full of incident and goals.

Anyway on to today’s game, the weather was decent for a change and the pitch was amazing, like unbelievably good. How the groundsman pulled that off I’ll never know but I’m pleased he did because it meant we could get the ball on the floor and continue to play our passing game. And that was exactly the in possession message we gave the players before kick off and we reminded them, the faster the ball moves, the less physical the game is. Out of possession the message was to slide and screen depending on where the ball is on the pitch and to make sure we’re aggressive in our press.

To be fair to all the players, the message hit home and it’s exactly what they did. From the first few minutes we were on top, breaking through the Brandon back 3 and testing the keeper who played very well throughout the game. On multiple occasions in the first half it was Rutherford threatening to score, winning multiple corners and opportunities to score with little to no threat on our gaol except for the occasional counter attack which was dealt with quite well by the back 3 and goalkeeper. The goal eventually came when Max Billingham was played through by Max J to slot into the bottom left corner. As I said earlier, games against Brandon are never without incident or controversy, the ball hit a small stanchion inside the post and bounced out. Shaun and I were right behind the ball and it clearly went in and in fairness to the Referee he was well placed and gave the gaol immediately. Brandon weren’t happy but it’s happened us in the past, for and against, these things even up over the course of the season. We made a few changes throughout the first half, Amir for Mason, Sam for Elliott, Joseph for James, Jacob for Max and they all changed the game and I think we’re starting to get into a real rhythm with our changes, everyone knows their role and every is bringing their own qualities to the game. It’s really pleasing to see.

1 nil at half time but in truth it could’ve been many more. Connor on for Joe and away we went again, passing the ball and defending as a unit. We had more clear cut chances this half with Max B, Max J, James, Joseph, Sam, Amir, Mason and Elliott all having excellent chances to score. A few more subs, the reverse of the earlier changes and they were really starting to pay dividends now, Brandon looked leggy and it was all Rutherford. The second came from the penalty spot after a handball which I must admit I missed so can’t really comment on whether or not it was the correct decision but the ref had a great game so I doubt he got this wrong. Elliott did the now fashionable thing of grabbing the ball in an attempt to fool the opposition into thinking he was taking the kick before giving the ball to Max Billingham to take and score. It’s funny what kids see on TV.

The next phase of the game continued in a similar pattern and a few solid challenges were flying in now, Elliott, Mason, Sam, Joe and Connor all winning great tackles but the moment of the match from this respect was a brilliant tackle from Taylor who sprinted into the fightback position to cover Connor and slide in, perfectly timing his tackle to take ball, man and the kitchen sink. Fantastic tackle, it really was.

James Lee made the game safe with a well taken goal from the edge of the area, shooting hard and low across the keeper into the bottom corner. Again, some slight controversy as again the ball hitting the corner stanchion and bounced out but again it had quite clearly gone in. It’s funny how two people stood next to each other can see things differently (I said goal, Brandon said post). Confirmation bias maybe but the Ref was well paced and didn’t hesitate.

Brandon had a flurry of pressure in the last few minutes but the defence stood strong, congratulating each other in true Bruno style which was good to see the team taking pride in their defending and clean sheet.

3 nil the final score and another excellent performance. Very difficult to pick out a MoM of the match again, I’d love to know the distance Max Johnson covers, he’s box to box in every sense of the word and is the team metronome, he was excellent today. Wide players were excellent again, I’m so pleased for Joseph and Sam, they’ve fitted in excellently and the team have made them feel welcome. Elliott and James put in some great work too with James back on the scoresheet. The defensive unit on Aodan, Taylor, Connor, Joe, Callum, Amir and Mason were excellent, really compact and combative in addition to starting our attacks. Jacob and Max up front were a constant threat in behind and linked up well, and I think the award goes to Max Billingham today, we was unlucky not to pick up the award on Wednesday but today he improved again in particular with his link up play and scored 2 goals, an excellent all round performance.