A frustrating and rather freakish end to an unglamorous afternoon. Credit to Salisbury, who were a better team than the one we encountered in the Autumn, and who, particularly in the first half, worked tirelessly to shut down every bit of space that would allow us to play our style of football. Denied any room in the first half we got hurried into a rash of passing errors. The result was barely a meaningful foray into their area. They had the better chances and looked dangerous all afernoon down the right, particularly through Elliott-Wheeler. In the second half, we came out clearly determined to compete more. It was telling that the first 2 substitutions were for our 2 play-makers, Tom Mehew and Joe Andrews. It just wasn't an afternoon for their particuar qualities. So Will King & Caine came in to give the midfield some more teeth, and then AAH to give us options up front, especially as their two CBs had dealt very comfortably with every high ball thrown at them the entire game, up til then. After a double golden chance, the first for HP and then the ensuing follow up we duly and almost inevitably, conceded an unlucky goal at the death, despite having limited Salisbury to almost nothing throughout the second 45 minutes.
So......once more, we encounter a team who pressed us relentlessly and stopped us playing our preferred game. As I've said before, we have sometimes to adopt a far more unglamorous, practical approach when we are stifled repeatedly like this at Home. We simply can't surrender the midfield as we do sometimes. The Bath game showed us to be lacking that aggressive physicality sometimes.. and this game confirmed it.
Honourable mention, once again to Luke Haines who was fantastic; Luke Spokes who quietly mopped up and distributed effectively... and especially to Tyreke who must have run himself to death trying to keep Elliot- Wheeler in check, and made his own excursions upfield, getting some telling crosses in.
