It was an entertaining game last night with Stamford dominating the first half and BUFC the second. Personally I thought the team looked very nervy in the first half whilst Stamford were really up for it. That said they only had two shots on goal and scored both of them. Miller's distribution from Centre Half was poor and he lacked pace against the lively Stamford strikers. French didn't really get involved down the left hand side (although he did give away the penalty). Both players improved dramatically in the second half. Boston played almost a 4-4-1-1 formation with Newsham just behind Jones. Incidentally, I thought Jones worked very hard for the 90 minutes.
Gary King and Ricky Miller had an 'altercation' in the second half which required both players to have a good talking to by the ref. I wish Miller all the best as his goal scoring record speaks for himself but he really does need to calm down a bit! I wonder if we will be seeing Miller again later in the season as a Corby player?
I thought Stainfield was our best performer. Very committed and dominant in the air - he will be a very important player for us this year. In my opinion, I don't think we will succeed this season with Milnes and Ross in central midfield. Ross plays some nice passes but between them will get out battled and out muscled by many of the sides in the league. I would play Ross further forward, and feel that a defensive midfielder is urgently needed.
Boston just about deserved the win although I think we all (Jason Lee included) thought they would capitulate once we went 3-2 up. Credit has to go to them for the fighting spirit that they showed. Certainly in the second half Boston worked hard and performed well as a team. Ben Fairclough looked threatening down the right and did superbly well to set up Newsham for his second.
I don't disagree with any of the above.
For all the criticism of the Lincolnshire Shield, I do think Lincoln United and Stamford have both given us better work-outs than Sleaford, Rainworth or Spalding. There were some committed challenges in both games and the restricted use of substitutes meant that more players came out with 90-minutes under their belts. I just wish that the final of the competition could be played in pre-season as well. The likelihood now is that it'll be delayed until March or April, at which point ourselves and either Grantham or Gainsborough will have different priorities and will choose to field reserve team and youth team players. The format of the competition currently does diminish the final, and it's a shame that nobody at the Lincs FA seems to have the common sense to realise that and change things.
We showed good strength of character to come back from two goals down. We were disappointing in the first half, but we grew stronger whilst Stamford tired in the second half. Having taken the lead it was a shame to concede late on, but five well taken penalties settled the outcome. Stamford's keeper was unlucky not to save Jones' penalty, but the rest of them were pretty much unstoppable.
Obviously our second half improvement is all down to the
fitness coach fact that we have a younger squad. I think Stamford will have a good season under Drury, though I'm not too sure how he can put Gary King in the starting line-up and leave Ricky Miller on the bench. By the time the league campaign starts (and assuming Miller hasn't moved on two or three times by then), then I'm sure Miller will get the nod.
Incidentally, was Gary King's penalty better or worse than Adam Boyd's? Has either ball ever been seen again?
