Whitehawk (H)

[Red army]

Best performance of the season so far by some distance. Think the management team got it spot on in terms of tactics and game plan. We couldn’t afford to be as open as we have been with a step 3 side as the visitors.
Wasn’t a great watch 1st half admittedly but needed a solid base to work from. Barring the goal from the penalty we looked fairly comfortable for open stages of the half giving up possession, Whitehawk soon run out of ideas in terms of breaking us down, the windy conditions playing a part in the long switch of play.
Longer the half went on the more confident on the ball we become, didn’t create many chances, Sani won the ball in midfield and drove forward to the edge of the box, United overload but Sani shot blocked by a recovering defender. Best passage of play for United, high on our left, Hinds, Bangura interchange set Hayles to the byline his pull back met on the run by Ndombe, his shot deflected wide of the keeper who knew very little about it. Resulting corner fell to Ndombe after a ricochet but prodded over the bar from 8yds out.
HT 0-1

Second half United a lot more adventurous. The first chance fell to the visitors Aaron Watkins mistiming in the home goal could only parry a long pass to a visiting attacker, who fires into the side netting with the goal gaping. Hinds shot blazed over from the edge of the box after neat work from Tyler Hayles. Hinds and Ndombe on the right hand side link up well the latter, firing a low across the 6yd box, but no United shirt to turn it home.
Whitehawk chance winger cutting inside of the their right wing, low shot just inches wide. Two United efforts from range Hinds low drive easily dealt with by the keeper, then a low skidded effort from Duffy turned round the post by the visitors keeper low to his right. Finally the effort paid off, Drop ball for United on the edge of the box, McKnight feeds Hinds inside the area, he lifts his effort over the keeper, it looks in but Duffy claiming it after bundling the ball over the line with a defender in close proximity. 9 minutes added on but no real chance for either side. FT 1-1

Mom hard to pick all played their part, Jack McKnight in a deeper roll this week dictated the the tempo in midfield once again.

Vast improvement all over the pitch this week, solid base to build from going forward.
If it takes a few games setting up like this, being hard to beat and a more defensively solid outfit then I think it’s worth the sacrifice for long term gain.
Few grumbling around the ground in the first half at our negative approach, but we simply can’t keep conceding goals in the manner we have been.
Credit to Simon and the management team, also the players for sticking to the plan especially conceding early on.
Onto the replay which will be tough at their place!!!

COYH

[Mr Heinstein]

Post match interview with the gaffer here: https://youtu.be/j6XIEJNLlRs?si=iPF2NK8bnE1CxhmU

The first half was a bit of a yawn-fest with us not wanting to pressurise Whitehawk until they reached the halfway line. However, the ability to defend, stay well organised and prevent Whitehawk from threatening to any great extent was a marked improvement on previous matches.

Then in the second half we pushed on, were the dominant side and Whitehawk seemed happy to try to see out the single goal victory, until that was no longer an option for them.

The defensive reconfiguration worked well, more of a 5-3-2 I think, giving us that solid platform to build on.

Hope all that are going on Tuesday have a good, and victorious, evening.