The final push!!

Hello everyone, 

Hope that you are enjoying the Easter break boys and that your mum and dads will have some time off as well! I just wanted to confirm that there will be no training tomorrow night (Wednesday 1st) or any football on Saturday 4th April.

The next training session will be on Wednesday 8th April from 6pm to 7pm and this will be at King George V Playing Fields. 

Unfortunately I have to work so John has kindly agreed to run the session. I appreciate that many of you might be away or have other plans but if you can make it please do.

This will then lead us into the final set of matches which are: 

Saturday 11th away at Heavitree 

Wednesday 15th home against Cullompton 

Saturday 18th away at Sidmouth, then finally 

Saturday 25th away at Copplestone.

Just to remind everyone that the end of season presentation evening will be held at Exeter City on Saturday 2nd May, it should be a great evening and be nice to have the whole team present to celebrate what has been a great season for us and for the club. 

I have had some sad news this week that Dan has broken his wrist and will be out for the rest of the season.

I am sure we all wish you well Dan and a speedy recovery. 

Only thing now to do is wish you all a good couple of weeks, and John will look forward to training next Wednesday. 

Thanks 

 Mark

No goals in Spartan draw.

 

For the second week,City played Twyford Spartans at Amory Park,Tiverton.Last week saw a narrow loss in the semi final of the cup,this week City shrugged off that loss in their return to league action.

 

Conditions were quite different although there was no change in the matching of the sides.The previous two encounters were tight affairs and so this again proved.This time,on a bright sunny morning with a fair cold breeze,the grass had been freshly mown and the ground had dried up.The pitch,which was bumpy,made for a fast uneven playing surface,leading to the ball being often difficult to control.

 

The first half saw very little opportunity for goal offensives by either side.The game was living up to a spartan nature in terms of advantage and seemed to consist of continuous ground territory gain by way of throw ins.It was easy to lose count of the number of times the ball went out of play and each side progressed slowly up the line.The linesmans arms must have been aching after the game!City were competitive to the ball though and were more often than not first to the header.One bright spot saw Cameron force a good save for a corner from a freekick.

 

The second half saw City have much the better of the play but frustratingly,the creation of chances was still spartanly sparse.A change to a 3-3-1-1 formation had a positive impact.City survived an early scare when the best Spartan player was allowed to turn and run with the ball,shooting just wide although Sam R had it covered.From a great goalkick clearance the ball bounced over several heads and Alfie W was away,his chip on the keeper just the wrong side of the righthand post.Tom had a great run thwarted later on as the City strikers were implored to stay up the field to draw the defenders to them,releasing midfield space for City to attack with.Dan rattled the bar on one such occasion that this strategy paid off.

 

As the game drew to a close,City competed to the end to deserve a point away from home and a well earned Easter break looms.The Match picks were captain Ryan and Will P for midfield creativity.

Back to Tivy we go!!

Hello everyone 

 Such a good session last night boys and it was brilliant to see how we have been able to move on from the disappointment of the weekend and start to regain our energy for the 5 matches ahead. 

 The first challenge is another match against Twyford Spartans away again at Amory Park with a 10:30am kick off.

 The starting team will be: 

 Goal Keeper – Sam R 

 Defence – Sam P, Cameron and Charlie 

Midfield – Will A, Will P, Dan and Ryan ©

 Striker – Alfie W 

 Starting Subs – Joe, Tom and Ewan 

Rested or Injured – Josh and Alfie R 

Unfortunately Ryan was not at training to receive the captains arms band but he has been an important member of the squad this season and has trained and played well, so well done Ryan. 

 If we could meet again for a 9:45am kick off, I thought that extended warm up worked well last weekend so will be keen to do the same again if that’s okay.

 Best wishes everyone and see you on Saturday 

 Mark

The show must go on!!

Hello everyone, 

Like me, I imagine you are all feeling quite flat and disappointed about the result on Saturday. 

Been thinking about little else since and wondering what we could have done differently to change the result. Ultimately however I think we gave it a great shot and did well in all areas of the field. It was such a tight and cagey game wasn’t it. 

However the show must go on and ironically we start with another trip to Amory Park for our league game against Twford Spartans. 

With 5 matches left in the season we have some tough challenges ahead so it will be important for us to re-group and do all we can to maintain our place toward the top of the league table. 

Training will be as per normal on Wednesday still at Isca College from 6pm to 7pm. 

For reference the last five matches of the season are: 

Saturday 21st March – AWAY at Twyford Spartans 

Saturday 11th April – AWAY ay Heavitree Youth 

Wednesday 15th April – HOME against Collumpton 

Saturday 18th April – AWAY at Sidmouth  

Saturday 25th April – AWAY at Copplestone United. 

 Awards Season!! It is also the time in the season when we start to look ahead at the awards ceremony and the end of season social events! In what has been an amazing season we will have three overall awards to hand out.

Players Player of the Year – This will be chosen by the players who will have one vote each. 

Most Improved Player – As last year I would love parents to vote for this one and will organise a text ballot in the next few days! 

Overall player of the Season – Chosen by John, Callad, Gillian and myself. 

These awards will be handed out on the 2nd May which is shaping up to be a great occasion. 

Thanks everyone and see you on Wednesday! 

Mark

Cup run ends at the penultimate hurdle

City strode out at Amory Park,Tiverton,home of Twyford Spartans,for the first of two consecutive visits.Next week is a return to league action,this,the semi final of the Cup. On a cold,bright day,the pitch had survived an inspection,being described the day before as 50/50 playable.If anything,the surface did not stop the movement of the ball and City returned to a passing game,finding players often from distance,and competing at an altogether higher level that last weeks mauling.But remembering the keenly contested draw at KGV,earlier in the season,this was never going to be anything but a close call. Opening exchanges saw both sides making offensive moves with the City defence holding strong and adopting no risks,playing the ball into touch where necessary and regrouping with discipline.There were though,few attempts on goal and it was the defenders from both sides,who were continually in play.Ewan and Sam P started to enjoy some runs down the left hand side,at one point linking well with Tom,before Dan got a rare City shot away.Charlie was called upon for some proficient defensive cover,Sam R made two excellent saves,but the visitors eventually fell a goal behind following a quick Twyford move.City did not drop their heads,nor indeed so at any point of the match.Cameron captained the troops,restoring morale with a trademark freekick leveller,the halftime score 1-1. The second half saw more of the same,perhaps with more urgency from City.Another Cam freekick,one of several,severely tested the Spartans’ keeper but a follow up just did not break.The deadlock was broken by the tale of two penalties.In a mismatched 18 yard box for the size of pitch,an award for a foul was first sent over Sam R’s goal into the carpark.A less obvious collision with Sam R was despatched giving him no chance.City made every attempt to provide onslaught on to the Twyford goal as the minutes,and the place in the final,eventually ebbed away.But,in another first for the club,that is by far and away the furthest in the cup competition that the group has ever progressed over their history (this current Central side in 5 years). Charlies’ defensive acuity was once again pleasingly apparent,to the guest Man of the Match selector,George,Will A’s cousin.

Semi Final Information

Hello everyone, 

Such a positive training session tonight and what a great response compared with the disappointment we all felt on Saturday. 

Like I said I think the sign of any good sporting team is its ability to bounce back from a bad result and not go into meltdown. 

We have learnt some lessons as a team I think from Saturday. For me these are about our pre match preparation as well as the events on the pitch. I think I need to pay some attention to the pre match warm up routines to ensure that when the whistle blows you are all fully warmed up and ready to go straight from the whistle. 

During the match last week we recognised that we were not strong enough in midfield, that we were slow to put pressure on the oppositions players when they had possession and also that we had a tendency to bunch a bit too much. 

However the second half was a much better performance and I feel really positive as we move toward Saturday and our semi final Cup tie against Twyford Spartans. 

The match is being played at Amory Park, Tiverton EX16 6DQ and the kick off is at 10:30am. We know that they are a very capable team and it will be a very close game. 

John and I have given massive thought to how we approach this game and John especially has spent hours thinking about the right formations and team selections to give us the best chance. Sadly John is working on Saturday so I am keen that we do him proud. 

The starting team has a number of changes from our normal starting line up, this is deliberate and is aimed at giving us the best chance to win this one off game. It is important that as a team we ensure we are strong from the first to the last whistle and it is worth remembering that this game could potentially go to extra time and even penalties. 

So the starting team will be: 

Goal Keeper – Sam R 

Defence – Charlie, Josh and Ewan 

Midfield – Will P, Cameron ©, Dan and Sam P 

Striker – Tom 

Starting Subs: Alfie W, Will A, Joe and Ryan 

The key change here is bringing Cameron into a midfield position to try and give us a bit more control and physicality in central midfield and then look to use the wingers and the striker to pierce the Twyford defence. 

We have a rough plan on how to utilise the substitutes to ensure we have fresh legs and energy in the second half, but equally it is important to see how the game unfolds and make decisions accordingly. 

Can I ask that we meet at Amory Park around 9.30am ready to start our match preparations and warm up at 9:45am. 

This is a big game for us and whilst I am sure you will all have a few butterflies when you wake up on Saturday morning it is also important that we manage these nerves, have a big breakfast and come ready and prepared for a tough and potentially long match! It is also really important that we enjoy the occasion. 

Any problems, illnesses or injuries please keep me posted, but if not then I will look forward to seeing you all around 9.30am on Saturday. 

Come on the City!! 

Mark

Its a funny old game!!

Hello everyone,

Thanks to Andrew for his fair reflections on Saturday’s match, I am sure like me, you have spent the weekend thinking back to what happened, trying to unpick it and work out led to this heavy defeat!

I do think that there are a number of things that we can take from the game, lessons to learn and tactical issues that we need to focus on when we meet for training on Wednesday.

But I am quite a philosophical chap and think that sometimes things happen for a reason, maybe Saturday will act as a bit of a shake up and will refocus and re-energize our energy for the big Cup match on Saturday against Twyford Spartans.

We have had an outstanding season and we should not lose confidence or spirit on the back of this defeat.  As I said on Saturday the test of a true team is that they learn lessons when they can and hold steady our resolve, passion and belief!

Training on Wednesday will be really important this week.  In addition to John and Callad we will have Gillian with us for the full hour and she will be working with the defensive players.

The match on Saturday has also posed a few challenges for John and I in respect of team selection for the Cup game, we hope to name the starting team on Wednesday, suffice to say though that the same squad will be asked to come to the game. 

As I indicated on Saturday the match is not now to be played at a neutral venue it is to be played at Tywford Spartans ground.  However I will clarify where this is because the leagues website indicates that they play at two different locations!  Suffice to say it will be somewhere near Tiverton.

The kickoff is at 10:30am, however I will be asking players to meet at 9:30am at the ground and the warm up will start at 9:45am prompt.

Okay I think thats all from me, as ever am never far away if there are any problems.

Thanks

Mark  

The higher you climb!

Sometimes it does seem that a play on the words of a Jimmy Cliff song,the higher you climb,the harder you fall,one and all,could ring true.But one reverse,albeit 5-0,is,not to forget,only the second defeat of the season.With the fervour of the cup semi final a week away,the opposition could be hoodwinked into thinking that we are resting players performances,the true ones ready to be unleashed with the silverware in the sights.

On a sunny morning,Exwick playing fields on the flood plain and within kicking distance of the partially diverted River Exe,provided the setting.The well marked pitch was bumpy with long grass,and retained a slippy surface from residual recent rainfall.To the eye,the playing area was extensive,particularly the width.This did not seem to suit Citys’ style,sweeping the ball wide to the flanks,right and left,Joe and Tom respectively.As St Martins controlled the game,this left the midfield short numerically,and also forced City to back off the opposition attacks.At first this did not lead to the onslaught that followed,as City only fell behind after 10 minutes of play,more due to the ball not being cleared effectively.

But at halftime,the home team had added three more well taken goals that gave our keeper no chance.Many of the efforts were reminiscent of the type of goals seen at home at KGV.At least two great saves by Sam R kept the score down and it’s not to say that City did not enjoy some of the action.Tom went close following one of several accurately delivered Will P corners,Dan was involved in getting as many passing moves going despite midfield isolation,and Cam had two trademark freekicks go agonisingly close.As the ball bobbled just before Alfie W blasted a left foot over the bar,it just was not going to be Citys’day.

City kept the second half score down to a respectable 1-0,a low freekick effort finding the net through a wall of players.Subs Will A and Ryan knuckled down to clear the ball into St Martins half as often as possible.In a nod to the skills of the watching,supporting Sam P,Ewan had several good runs to provide goal threat down the left hand side.Josh and Charlie were jointly nominated as players of the match,for defensive composure and ball distribution,not losing shape,despite the obvious disappointment of the scoreline.

Mum's United!!

News has reached the Editor of the next Mothers Night Out!!

Full details are restricted to MOP's (Mothers of Players!) but I understand the meeting point to be The Globe Inn, Newtown, Exeter EX1 2BL and a 7.30pm start.

The date for this event is Friday 17th April 2015.

If you are free and fancy it (mothers only!) then please have a chat with either Emer or Lynn on the touchline!

Enjoy, Enjoy, Enjoy!!

Mark

S is for Saturday and St Martins!!

Hi everyone

Again sorry for the delay in getting this information through but hope you are all well and have had good weeks.

So the match on Saturday is against St Martin’s and is away at their ground. 

They have moved grounds and now play at Exwick Playing Fields, Western Road, Exwick, Exeter EX4 1EQ.

Their manager has text me to say that it is behind the Thatch Inn, Exwick for those with knowledge of the local hostelries.

If we can meet please for a 10:00am warm up and match preparation that will be great.

Sam P has taken a knock at school this week so is being rested as a precaution and also with the semi final game the following week in mind.

So the starting team for Saturday will be:

Goal Keeper – Sam

Defence – Josh, Cameron (C) & Charlie

Midfield – Tom, Dan, Will P & Joe

Striker – Alfie W

Starting Subs:  Ewan, Will A, Ryan

Cameron has been handed the captains arm band for the next couple of matches for showing great commitment in training and strong performances on the pitch. Well done cameron. 

The weather is looking good for the match tomorrow so looking forward to seeing you all there.

Cheers

Mark