Match Report

Match : 1st XI v Saintfield
Date : 2002-11-23
Venue : H
Score : 2-2
Scorers : Hermon (2)

By Alan Burgess

It has been commented that my half time team talks and match reports have at times been too critical, i have apparently focused too much on what we have been doing wrong rather than being positive and pointing out what we have been doing right. On this occassion however i feel i have every right to criticise what i saw on Saturday, because quite frankly there was nothing to be positive about.

Saturday saw the worst display by the 1stXI this season, every player had a bad game, myself included. Saturday was a must win game and if we cannot motivate ourselves correctly for this type of a game then what hope have we of reversing our current league position. We are bottom of the league because we deserve to be there.

At the start of the season i believed we had the players but not the team, now i find myself asking, do we have the players? Everyone went onto the pitch on Saturday with a clear understanding of what it would take to win the game, i thought i had made it pretty clear; effort, committment, teamwork and a desire for 3 points. Not exactly rocket science is it?

We have had two coaching sessions for Paul Cooke, one from Marty Sloan and from Davy Caldwell week in, week out, so it is not as if we don't know what we are supposed to be doing, we just seem to chose to do the opposite. While on tour we played some great hockey; passing, movement, teamwork, desire, it was all there in abundance but once we came home and the competitive element was added to games everything went out the window. Why is this, can we not cope with the pressure of a competitive game?

I would hope that the current situation we find ourselves in is hurting, if it is not then you must question your committment and desire. I don't like losing on a Saturday, especially against teams we should beat easily. I am sick of sitting in the Academy Club on a Saturday afternoon saying we should have done this and we should have done that. It is time to stop talking and start doing.

I want every player to look at himself and decide exactly what he wants from this season. I don't want people to be pointing fingers at anyone else, i want us to look at ourselves as individuals and ask the question, "am i giving all that i can on a Saturday afternoon?" If you want the team to improve, if you want our league position to improve, if you want to go home satisfied with your performance on a Saturday then let's start putting in the effort that is required. League tables do not lie, we are currently the worst taem in Senior 2, it is time for everyone to take collective responsibility for it and start to do something to change it.

Do we have the players? Do we have the team?

J Hamill
A Murphy
P Fraser
G Reid
B Watters
N Hermon
D Caldwell
P Reid
P Irwin
A Burgess
L Currie
N Johnston

You must be joking