A Frustrating Afternoon

Chester A’s were brought down to earth in their final match before the school break with a defeat away to Timperley. However the scoreline of 3 to 0 did not reflect the much closer nature of the match.

Once again the defence of Matthew Randles, Jonny Riley, Lukas Pold and Ffion Chilton with Oscar Ablett playing in his second game for the A’s looked solid. However going forward the A’s defence need to work on their movement upfield in support of the midfield and their distribution of the ball around and out of the defence.

Part of the A’s problems here, lie with the coach who needs to improve his own skills in this regard The formation he is playing does not always work when an opposition play only two upfront as identified by Right Back, Ruby Whysall in a recent training game.
Chester’s midfield worked tirelessly with Emily Hunt and Jack Riley in the centre and Caitlyn Green and Lauren Scoltock in the wide roles. With only one rolling substitute and as Timperley continued to rotate their team Chester’s legs and ball pace began to slow. The space between the midfield and the defence allowed Timerley to break regularly and Chester did not control this area, sometimes playing the ball back into the path of oncoming opposition players.

Chester did however play some attractive hockey and looked at their best when playing the ball with pace, passing not running and feeding the ball via the wings to the forwards, Marcus Badiru and Charlie Cook. Chances came and went, but it was not to be. Having spent time practising short corners, Chester were disappointed not to have a single opportunity to put practice into action as Timperley’s two umpires failed to find any fault in the Timperley defence in repeated Chester attacks.

In the final part of the game controversy erupted as goalkeeper Finn O’Dell upended a Timperley forward. The umpires felt that this was an off the ball action after the ball had been cleared but most players, spectators and, in particular, the Goalkeeper himself were convinced that the ball had been dispatched to the sidelines with the same kick that took the player. The Chester coach discussed the matter with the Timperley umpire and manager after the game who both saw the action as deliberate and aggressive. However the Chester Coach has been encouraging his goalkeeper to be assertive and will continue to support his actions provided he is always making a genuine attempt to play the ball.

Chester should remain upbeat after this disappointing result and will surely continue to improve. As in previous games Chester A’s are capable of producing excellent attractive hockey and if they continue play to their best victories will surely return.