We pushed and prodded Bangor, including a wonderful header from Beezo that their GK had to go full stretch to save. We tried some different things but in the end we could not break through the SLATE wall Bangor had built for us. The field was tough for how we like to play. JV lost a tough won 3-2 with two goals from Ben Taube. Lucas Parada was man of the match and provided rigidity to the back line. I am proud of them – nice job leading them Rocco!

The good:

Our backline held the line again. 4 Straight clean-sheets. It will be 5 by the end of Tuesday. Great job to Connor, Owen, Keerat, Nolan, and Noah.

Our midfield works so hard always. Dillard, Danny, Steven, and Harnit go full gas. Danny won so many challenged headers, Dillard is always there to collect the second ball, Steven harrasses and finds the ball and Harnit ran 70 yards to stop a counter. He is our MAN OF THE MATCH.

When we strung together our quick passes and moved the ball quickly we looked good and created our most promising chances.

I heard players taking responsibility for their play – Braden and Danny came to mind (others did it too) – when something went wrong, they owned their part in it. They are amazing players and were humble enough to own any mistake. We can all learn from that!

The looking to improve:

When we get frustrated, we have a tendency to start to take it out on each other – unfortunately a tough human instinct. I talked about this on the bus. Dealing with frustration in a useful way is part of maturing. We will get better at it. We MUST always stay together.

Breaking down a parked bus. Quick lateral movement and looking far post to take advantage of their shift. They really left very little space in the shooting areas so we will work on this.

Moving away from Hero Ball – the idea of hoping someone will make 3 guys miss and pound a rocket from 20 yards. This discourages smart runs and creative play. Every one of our players is a hero but we MUST link up more – quick passes!

It is frustrating not to win, particularly when you control the game like we did. That said, I am blessed with a wonderful team and great boys – all of them. We will be back at it Monday and look to take out our angst against those Blue Bombers of Palmerton.