Chaps' cup collapse continues...

Report

Chaps had to travel to Stourbridge this morning for their first round match in a fifth different cup, the flavour this time - The Kidderminster Hospital Minor Cup. We lined up against undefeated Vine FC with a couple of changes, Slater - being the only player to have played in every one of the 630 minutes so far - had to miss out through detention, Cromwell taking his spot (and with it, his position at the top of the appearance charts) at right back, and Feasey returned to bolster the midfield in place of the injured Dowsett. Gould played a lone role up front as the Chaps lined up in a 4-5-1 formation.

From kick off Vine looked more sprightly and assured, despite only having 10 men for the first 10 minutes. Chaps were put under a lot of pressure and our passing game wasn't really working, eventually leading to a disappointing goal for Vine as a mishit cross bounced high at the far post and their attacker was able to head in from a yard.

This goal was followed by 20 minutes of intense pressure on the Chaps Utd goal, but our character shone as we defended well and soaked up everything Vine could throw at us, with a superb goal line clearance from Cromwell thrown into the mix. Trailing 1-0 at half time and our spirits were fairly high, we knew a strong second half coupled with a new approach of "delivering the ball accurately into the far corners to develop the pace of our counter attacks and apply measured pressure onto the opposition back four" could work well for us.

Sadly our deficit was soon doubled, after a perverse bounce in an empty and unthreatened box caught Mills by surprise and lightly dusted his fingertips; like the softest touch of a feather, having floated on barely a breeze from a ducklings' back, flirting with the fallen autumn leaves before meandering away on it's own inconsequential journey. The referee, however, saw things in a different light and immediately awarded a penalty for a vicious breach of the laws of the game. Vine dispatched their penalty well, nestling it into the bottom left corner at a fair pace, no chance for Thornton who stuttered to his left, fighting his gut instinct that rightly suggested he should have gone the other way.

Chaps did manage to put their new tactic into action from the fourty-seventh minute onwards, with Gould and Horrocks having some joy up front and creating a few chances. Vine were still looking dangerous on the attack, with strong pacy wingers always a threat. A trio of late substitutions was not enough to find that cutting edge Chaps were missing, and in the dying minutes of the game a byline cross from the right hand side swerved dangerously close to goal and Thornton failed to keep it out as it curled in, 3-0 to Vine.

The defeat today was not as bad as the defeat last week, with more communication and team work from the Chaps, who at least tried to play their passing game throughout the match. Improvements have been made but we are still lacking the work rate and chat I know we can reach. As the team settles more and more over the coming Winter months I'm sure the Chaps will begin to record victories and emerge as adonises of the league. Until then, we have to be impressed by Siliman Tomolinson's performance today. Against a very able opponent he was composed on the ball and didn't put a foot wrong, keeping him out of the game and providing an attacking option himself right through to the final whistle. He tracked his runners all game and played with a no-nonsense approach that I dearly wish I had seen more of during my 15 year career to date. I am looking forward to playing alongside you more Tomo-BAY-BEE, Chap of the match, well done!