Team:

1. Liam Cooper
2. Richard Meagan
3. Brin Fone
4. Craig Dale
5. Tom Marshall
6. Max Pashley
7. Will Gill
8. Chris Cockbill
9. Dylan Farrow
10. Jack Morris
11. Ryan Birch
12. Robbie O’Donnell

Match Report:

After our first round win against Clifton Athletic we were drawn against Wollaton who play, as we do, in Division 2. The Saturday fixture posed us a few selection problems; in total we had 5 players unavailable for the match.

We have not been in the best of form recently so today’s cup game gave us an opportunity to try a few different things and turn our season around. Although many managers say that the cup is important I disagree and after all, this was going to be our first game for a few weeks.

Liam took up the role of goalkeeper today with Tom reverting to centre half (alongside Craig) and Jack playing in central midfield (alongside Ryan B). We played with Max as a sweeper in the first half with Richard and Chris as full backs. Brin and Will played as our wide midfield players and Dylan was our lone forward. We set up defensively for the first half for two reasons; firstly we didn’t know what to expect from Wollaton (we haven’t played them yet in the league) and secondly because we were playing up a rather pronounced slope.

Within the first two minutes Colts forced 3 corners; each one was well taken by Ryan B. Colts almost capitalised from the second of the three when Max stooped low to get his head on the ball but the player couldn’t get enough power on his header to force the ball into the goal.

Midway through the half Wollaton took the lead; a goal we could have stopped if the one of the outfield players had responded sooner and closed down the shot. Liam had very little chance with it and he should feel unlucky to concede his clean sheet.

Half-Time: 1 – 0

With the advantage of the slope in the second half we changed formation and personal in an attempt to increase our attacking options. Brin was replaced by Robbie who took up the left back spot. Chris took over on the left side of midfield. Ryan B pushed upfront with Dylan and Max moved into midfield alongside Jack.

The Colts certainly knew that they could get back into this game and they set out their stall to do this from the outset.

The Colts were quickly into the game and began to cause problems for Wollaton in all areas of the pitch. It was pleasing that although we set up to attack more in this half we still remained focussed when we were defending. Our midfield was very hard working, all four of the players ran tirelessly throughout the whole game. Ryan B was proving more support to Dylan upfront and the pairing once again looked likely to bear fruit in terms of goals. Tom and Craig were solid in the centre of the defence with Richard and Robbie (best half of the season so far for Robbie) doing the business as our full backs. In goal Liam did an excellent job; the role of the goalkeeper in the modern game is almost that of sweeper on occasions. Liam certainly played his part with his excellent distribution from both open play and goal kicks.

Dylan levelled the match with a well taken solo effort running through the defence before calmly despatching the ball past the hard working Wollaton keeper. Then Birchy sealed the win with a great goal set up perfectly from midfield by Jack.

We held on for the rest of the game as Wollaton threw everything at us as they strived to get back on level terms. It wasn’t to be for them and we held out for a well deserved win.

Fulltime – 1 – 2

Summary:

Well it’s onwards to round 3 which is nice but the most pleasing thing for me was seeing the boys celebrate at the end of the game with big smiles on their faces. After the past couple of games we have seen a lot of long faces but not today.

Each of the 12 players on duty today should be pleased; they battled hard and they played some lovely football when they could as well. The team spirit was there for everyone to see.

We are away (again) in the next round to the winner of the Market Warsop v Newark Town game; was again the match will be played on a Saturday so we might be without one or two of the players again.

Next Sunday we are on our travels again as we go over to our old friends at Gedling Town. Training as always will be on Friday between 7 and 8. We had a good session last night and worked a lot on defending which I think paid dividends today.

Thanks to Brian for running the line today.

Well done to all of the players today – a great performance.

Alan and Mark.