Mixed fortunes for Young Villagers

U18 manager Nathan Bartlett looks back on two contrasting results against Witham Town (3-2) and Holland (3-5).

It’s been a real mixed bag the last couple of fixtures. Dealing with player losses in key areas from the dreaded winter colds. We were able to pick up three points against high flying Witham despite making things hard for ourselves and allowing them back in the game after being 2-0 up at half time.

Last night against Holland we had no recognised centre backs in the squad for one reason or another and even though we started well, our failure to make anything of our chances plus we had a sloppy 10-15 minute spell where we conceded five goals. We got a goal just before half time to make it 5-1.

There were a few tweaks at half time with our system and defensive line. We dominated the second half and scored two more with no reply, making the scoreline a little more respectable and left wondering what could have been if we had done that for 90 minutes.