Definitely the strongest team we’ve faced by some distance and apart from the first 15 minutes when we started slowly and lacked concentration we played our soaking wet socks off.

Great to see two things in particular:

1. Lots of good passing moves. We are starting to play with our heads up looking for our team mates running into space. In such awful conditions it was exciting to see especially in the last two thirds of the game when we dominated possession and chances.

2. Some incredible chasing back in defence when we lost the ball. So many gut-busting sprints to win back the ball, which we often did!

Let’s forget the first 15 minutes - as far as I’m concerned that wasn’t the real Whites....and remember the next 40 minutes or so where we more than matched the opposition and with a little more of the luck running our way we would have scored 4 or 5 goals.

Credit to everyone who played:

Tom for his bravery under pressure and an incredible double-save, with a penalty save on top of that.

Felice for terrific defending, and always being in a good position to stop attacks.

Jack for some amazing sprinting as if his life depended on it, and great controlled passing moves.

Matt for being a bundle of energy and never afraid of a tackle. His kindness to team mates on and off the pitch is heart warming too!

Orlando for his tricky skills, bamboozling the opposition with a never give in attitude.

Tobias for strong running up and down the wing, and plenty of neat moves couple with aggression in the tackle now.

George for ceaseless positivity, making good positions for a pass and tracking back to help his team in defence.

Edward for helping us out through our injury crisis. Lots of good runs and created several goal scoring opportunities.

Corey for giving so much passion and commitment he injured himself in the process, but stuck with us on the sideline cheering us on in the monsoon!

Oli for non-stop running, creating danger on the wing every time he got the ball and for taking (and giving back) so many tough tackles.

Overall when we engaged our football brains (15 minutes into the game) we played some great football, and worked so well as a team in awful weather against a big, strong, quick opponent. So much to be pleased with and proud of, and a great learning experience for all.

Bring on next week (once we’ve had a chance to dry off, warm up and reflect on some serious progress in our game)!

Tony

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