L4 Football Academy (L4 JF 2 vs 3 Atletico JFC

On a blustery morning on Clubmoor we blew our chances our building on the fantastic win in the last league game vs Ormskirk West End. Illness to Harry meant he was missing his first game in 2 years and saw Jay deputise between the sticks. The game began as expected in the difficult conditions, neither side settled and it was all a bit scrappy. We began to look threatening and in particular down the right with Alex putting some terrific crosses into the box the best falling to the head of Gift who failed to hit the target. It was Alex who then turned provider crossing for the in form Zico who side footed home his 4th goal in his last 3 starts as the number 9. The goal put us on the front foot but we just couldn’t convert any of our chances and went in at half time with the slender lead.

We reverted to a 4-4-2 in the second half to give game time to both Ben & Ethan but the shape of the team looked unbalanced and we were getting cut open in the middle far too easy. Atletico equalised just before the hour mark but Alex’s looping cross went straight in a minute later to put us back in front. The away side hit back again with a stunning individual effort but we still looked dangerous on the break but wasteful finishing was to cost us as defensive uncertainty allowed them to score a dramatic winner with just 3 minutes remaining. What made it worse was the ref not giving offside or awarding us what was a stonewall penalty when Gift was clipped in the box. It was a tough result to take and unfortunately far too many of these have been inflicted on us in what is becoming a very frustrating and inconsistent season. It’s time to regroup and go again to avoid a dark end to the year with two pre-Christmas fixtures scheduled weather permitting.