NW Phantoms 0 vs 3 Alton

Report

First league game of the season was always going to be tough against a very capable Alton team.

So it proved, with phantoms spending the first ten minutes seemingly trying to gift Alton a goal with miss kicks and general sloppiness galore. Alton opening goal was a ball through our high lined defence. 1-0 half time a fair reflection on possession. Second phantons they looked a bit better but our defensive line was very deep perhaps concerned about conceding a similar goal . We somehow conceded a second goal after having the ball by Altons corner flag, they escaped to counter and score. Third goal was scored late on as we looked messy dealing with hopeful balls in.

Alton are a much stronger team than last year. They were as a team stronger, reacted quicker, worked much harder, communicated and dare I say were individually more savvy particular at protecting the ball than some of our players. The phantoms team at their best would have found this tough, but Phantoms were not at their best and some of our most reliable performers were not at the game. It looked like the team had decided to have a big sleepover or is it party nowadays? Protecting the ball, providing width, transition and recovery runs, reacting to triggers were in short supply.