On paper this looks like a hard fought draw against one of the strongest teams in the division. In reality it is an bad result which saw Toton start the match with 9 men, finish with 10 and Emmanuel still fail to get the result. For 30 minutes Emmanuel struggled to finish anything with the 2 man advantage with the exception of the penalty which saw us take the lead. Then once the 10th Toton player turned up the 9 hard working players had even more hope than before. In truth the result could've been concluded before that point if Jack Ball had finished his 2 1v1's against the Toton keeper, if Jabed's volley and Luke's free kick had dipped a little sooner and maybe if Patryk hadn't dissapeared to Queens Medical Centre with a split chin then maybe, but at the break we trudged off with little to show for our advantage and Toton rightly went off feeling hope and posibility.
Toton equalised fairly early in the second half when one of the strikers rose unmarked and unchallenged to head home. The match seemed like 11v11 with Toton battling for everything and it was never evident that they were a man light. Eventually Emmanuel got the breakthrough when Jack Ball raced through and applied an accomplished finish worthy of any top player, lifting the ball over the sprawling keeper. 2-1 and we hoped we could go on and kill the game. That was not to be as Toton once again showed, even with 10 players, why they are at the top of the division this season. Work rate and desire kept them going and when Jabed failed epically to finish in the centre of goal, 2 yards out with the keeper lying on the floor and the possibility of scoring 99% then we knew something was bad was afoot. With a few minutes left and the centre of defence resembling a greyhound on some laminate flooring Toton equalised and sent the match into extra time.
20 minutes later a replay was the outcome.
Let's not over analyse our failings on Saturday. We didn't have a spark about our play, everything seemed flat, sometimes this happenes but it's important for someone to step up and try to get that spark going and lift the team. Perhaps that player was sitting in the hospital giggling like a little girl whilst having his sticthes put in (allegedly). However, we are far from a one man team and any one of you is capable of stepping up and dragging your team mates into a match. This won't be achieved by shouting at each other though. We must trust each other and become reliant on each other. There were some really positive signs of a good partnership between Rob and Rhys in the centre of defence, Jack, once again put in a superb disply of team work, selfless running and desire. There was also a Kodak moment when Luke Gee tracked a run. To be fair though there has been a lot of transition. As we walked out on Saturday we had a squad which over the summer had lost 9 players and gained 7 new ones. That is bound to have an effect. And as we continue to play together and gel as a team everything will develop and it WILL click. When that happens, someone is going to get themselves a hammering. It will be sooner, rather than later.
The Toton replay will be this coming Saturday, 14th November at home.
COME ON EMMANUEL!!!
Goals: Gee, Ball
Man of the Match: Ball - outstanding
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