We own third. I hate third. Third generally means you either weren't good enough or that you made a balls out of something along the way. Third allows you a way out though, it can gloss over the mistakes of the day and send you away from the tournament at least on a positive note (means you won a 3rd/4th game). Repeated thirds can breed some sense of complacency.
Last year I could better stomach thirds. It was a small victory for consolidation. This year I hate third. It is meaningless and two spots away from where I believe we can be. I hate the word and all that goes with it.
On Saturday, the Championship panel rocked up close to full strength. We started with a victory over Stockholm, 2-5 to 0-4, after a shaky start against stubborn opposition. We followed that by blitzing Amsterdam in the first half against a gale force wind, striking 1-3 without reply. We closed out for a 7 point win.
Then the wheels came off. We suffered a blitzkrieg in reverse, being whipped by the Hague - six points was the gap at the end. It sent them ahead of us to top the group on points difference (they had earlier lost to Amsterdam). We came second with A'dam losing out on points.
We badly wanted to win the group to try and get an 'easier' draw in the semi i.e. 2nd place from the other group. Instead we would face off against Guernsey, impressive winners last year and looking good again this year.
I felt very down after the Hague game and was struggling to shake it. I was coming at it from two sides.
One was my own performance. I'd skipped the Stockholm game, played a half against Amsterdam and then came on in the second half against Hague. I was still struggling with a dead leg and was preserving myself in the hope we would be in the shake up at the business end of the day. Dead leg aside, my back, hamstring and achilles can't start play a 9am and finish at 6pm anymore. They've just had too much wear and tear over the years.
Against the Hague, I let my man roam too deep unattended and they were able to launch attacks successfully from there. I should have known better. Last week, in an in-house game, I sought Paddy out to mark. I wanted the challenge of marking a runner. He played the exact same way and orchestrated every attack. I let him go deep and pick up ball, deciding to drop in front of the full back line as cover. However, it created the opportunity for an overlap out the field and problems for the lads. Paddy was the main difference between the teams whilst I had minimal impact on our team.
The second one nearly ate me up more. Tactically we are all over the shop and the buck for that rests with me. Last year, we religously rehearsed our half court press at training and it was very effective. Fellas loved knowing what was expected of them and we were relentless in our approach.
This year we have a better team and we wanted to be more attack minded. Early on in Benelux we experimented but it was tough because we were always down a lot of guys so never had a strong enough hand to pull it off. We ended up reverting to the half-court press but didn't dedicate enough time at training to it. The new players don't understand the nuances of it and as a result it breaks down.
Whether I take the training on a given night or not, I give the direction and the message hasn't been consistent or clear in recent months. We're no longer sure how we play.
Last year I was preaching about believing in our system. There would be periods in games when teams would get on top but we were not to panic. Whatever way you play, that will happen. Keep believing in it and stick to the plan. No-one deviated.
This year though, we have become somewhat rudderless and I am supposed to steer the ship in that regard. I was very down. I could hear everyone saying that we were still in it and that we needed to lift it for the semi but the message was taking its time to get through to me.
As I said, part of last year’s plan was about calm and structure, no ranting or raving. We needed a quick fix now though and we needed to get back to basics. No more long ball, no more changing our style of play depending on the wind. Work the ball up the field quickly, support the man in possession.
Most of all though, understand where our motivation lay. To win we knew we would more than likely face Guernsey at some point. With them being defending champions, it was an easier game to get up for mentally than if we had played Luxembourg. Meaning no disrespect, we are sick of the sight of them and the other Benelux teams and it could have been more difficult to find the motivation.
Ross took over for the warm-up and everyone was buzzing. I never remember such a lively and energised warm-up at that stage of a tournament.
Then there was a bang. Within two minutes we were 1-1 down, playing into a massive wind. It was a colossal blow to ship but it didn't look like it took anything out of the lads. If you have to concede a goal, what better time than in the first minute. You have the whole game to recover. Guernsey hit a hot streak though and I don't think they put a wide with the 1-3 they kicked in that half. We kicked away chances for fun at the other end. Still, 1-3 to 0-2 at half-time. We managed to settle the ship.
The second half was a mighty struggle as they used all their experience to keep us at bay. We had mismatches in many areas of the pitch and when they goaled for a second time it was curtains. I had come across to try and make a last ditch block on both their goals and my finger tips felt both pass by. That's how close they were. Not even inches. Very frustrating because when you are that close you can’t but think you should have got there.
The result left us with a 3rd/4th playoff against Hague, losers to Lux by a point in the other semi. We changed things up a little bit and went man to man in defence, no dropping off and letting them spray it around. After they kicked a couple of early wides, we motored on to win convincingly 1-7 to 0-1, their score coming from a free in front of the posts.
I never left a Championship tournament last year feeling we blew an opportunity but on Saturday I definitely felt like that. We had enough chances to win the Guernsey game, bottom line.
The points I mentioned above bring a lot of the issues onto my shoulders but the lads know well that it is a collective thing. We have the players and we have the will but we need to figure out how to get the best out of ourselves.
After a few days reflection, I’ve a fair idea of what needs doing this month. We start again tomorrow night. Third is good enough if you aren’t good enough. I’m convinced we’re up to it though and the challenge might just be enough to light my spark again.
...Shield, Ladies and the rest to follow in coming days...
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