POOLE BAY CHALLENGE CUP
SATURDAY 24TH OCTOBER 2009
BOURNEMOUTH ELECTRIC 2 VERWOOD TOWN RESERVES 0

Team
1. Ben Daniels
2. Matt Lemar
3. Conor Moore
4. Mika Dronyk
5. Chris Buss
6. Liam Morrison
7. Kris Rex
8. Andy Munson (capt)
9. Will Cobley
10. Jack Mills
11. Marc Harrison
12. Carl Smalley (sub for Liam Morrison 55 mins)


Report

One can't deny that being drawn away to the League and Cup winners from last season isn't ideal and going with a patched up small squad didn't help either. However, the result means that the pressing requirement to build a trophy cabinet is no longer pressing and can be put on the back burner until next season!

I am beginning to question player's commitment to Football as each week we have around 10 players unavailable. OK a couple are injured and you always expect one or two to be otherwise occupied, but this is becoming a farce. I will be speaking to all the squad, but I do not believe it is just me thinking this; back when I played I never used to miss a match, unless I was seriously injured or was serving an unjust suspension.

Still, yesterday we had to make the best of what we had. If I had more subs I think we could have come away with a result as we played well, especially in the 2nd half and only conceded the second goal with a couple of minutes to go, when we were pushing forward for an equaliser.

We defended well in the 1st half with the back four and keeper all putting in strong performances. The two young fullbacks, Matt and Conor are improving all the time and Chris and Liam are complimenting each other well in the middle. Mika and Andy in the middle of midfield were more than holding their own and we looked dangerous when we got the ball out to the speedy Kris on the right hand side. Young Jack and Marc were being muscled out by a strong back four for Electric and were finding it difficult to retain ball possession; however they kept at it to their credit. Will Cobley was thrust up front and even though I don't remember him scoring since I have been in charge of the Ressies (5 long years), I had confidence in him and had a bet with Wattsy that Will would bag a goal. Unfortunately for both Will and my wealth, at half time he had to switch to centre back to replace the injured Liam. Despite my request to annul the bet, Wattsy stood his ground and claimed the wager.

We conceded after half an hour in the first half when a break down our left had a ball driven in from the by-line and the oncoming forward powered it home. We had chances on the break and Kris brought a smart save out of their keeper, but otherwise our ability to choose the wrong option at the critical time was doing us no favours. Second half we played well and tried hard, but the only real chance came when Mika broke through but his effort was saved by the keeper.

Report submitted by Neville Munson