Morningstar B 0 - 0 Sports Interactive C

After an 8-2 drumming last week it appears we had a much improved performance this week. Gimp of the game goes to Chris Crow for his penalty miss and Man of Match goes to Salvatore. My basis for MoM is on an email from Scotty Mac.

Match analysis is provided by Salvatore:

Good Game guys!

We did 0-0 against a team last year we lost 5-0.

This time

1) we have been narrow,

2) we pressed only on hour half

3) we closed the space available to the opponents

The result has been that

- they shot from distance only 2 times

- they made a lot of useless possession on their half

- we spent our energy in a much clever way, (Jim, we were not better fitted then them!)

We had at least 2 clear goal opportunities with the penalty of Chris and the shot of Jamie in front of the keeper after a wonderful dribbling. I am pleased with Idrees as he kept the position much better then the previous games.

The other good news is that we still have a lot of unexpressed potential.

In particular:

1) The movements off the ball during the attacking phase can still improve. I saw sometimes people running to the opponent goal without caring about the visual space available to the holder of the ball. The visual space of the playmaker is the most important think. Run only if your run can suggest a pass, otherwise you make the pass difficult and you basically mark yourself giving a man advantage to the opponent. The most important thing is to provide the space for the pass to your teammate. So do not run behind the defenders if the ball holder have no space for the pass

2) Passing. Their keeper this time has come up to the midfield several times. This is a threat for them that we need to exploit! Once we win the ball check immediately if it is possible an easy pass for the counter attack. We slept a bit on this today.

On Shooting we are not that great so allow me to remember that when shooting from distance we should try to stretch completely the neck and the toes of the foot. Thus the energy of the leg will not be absorbed by a flabby foot. Our body should lean forward so that the ball will not go up.

Morningstar B 0 – 2 City and Guilds Red

We’ve experienced the highs of the Friday league and now we have the lows. Friday produced our first defeat of the season against a team who were previously in the Thursday League. Fielding some of their first team players we were always going to have tough game on our hands.

Jamie Donovan came in for me at the last moment and provided us with some Thursday team class at the back of the field. Scott MacDonald returned to the team after a few weeks out and demonstrated the commitment needed to drive this team forward, chasing every ball and making some key tackles. Idrees and Paul cameo’ed in goal and did the team proud, both having a keen eye to distribute the ball and acquitting themselves well when playing on pitch.

Salvatore came on in the second half and certainly made an impact, threading some good passes and making important runs up the left flank to support the boys up front. Jamie Goodwin as we’ve come to expect, put everything into the game and really kept the team moving forward.

On the day it was possibly a lack of cutting edge that left us empty handed. Against very good opposition the boys did the team proud and on another day we might have got something out of the game. We restricted them to very few attacks and looked the more likely to score as the game progressed – we are improving week on week. Well played boys and better luck next time.

Man of the match this week goes to Jamie Donovan for a master class in defending as the last man. Gimp of the game goes to Salvatore for his brilliant run down the left flank, playing a one-two to get himself in front of goal and to then swing and only hit air. DOH!

Morningstar FC A: LGM 1-5 MFC A

MFC A 5 - 1 LGIM


Team: Rossi, Hart (Elliott), Llupa (Donovan), Modi, Whitelaw

Scorers: Whitelaw (4), Modi

Brilliant result, well done to everyone. We deserved the win, and there could've been more but for their keeper.

I know this new formation isn't ideal we're defending, but I'm really pleased with how we coped, and good work from our keepers to make up an extra man at the back. I think we'll stick with this system for now.

Personally, I thought it was a great game to watch, particularly with Ed's dispatching of their token-diver in the second half. I haven't been publicising my MoM choices, but as the Friday team do, I think its fair that I do too. Therefore, MoM this week goes to Tom for his general destruction, and Gimp of the Game (GoG, shamelessly stolen from Chris E and the Friday team) goes to Ed, for being Ed.

Next week we make it 10! :)

Chris

Morningstar B 2 – 1 The Corps

First win of the season and first ever win for Morningstar B! Hope you enjoyed the taste of it lads as we’ll be expecting more of those!

Everyone ran their socks off and worked really hard for the team. All the hard work put into last week’s game carried over to this match and we’re looking like a real force out there. There were one or two scary moments but thanks to the heroics of Mark Laidlaw in goal we managed to close the game out.

We were unfortunate to go 1-0 down but to quote Tom Whitelaw “there’s goals in this game” and it was a matter of time before we got back into it. And what a way to do it, Robin found himself in space to the right of goal and with screams of “HIT IT!!” let rip with a half volley into the opposite corner. Peach.

We don’t settle for draws and with time rapidly running out we were chasing a winning goal. In our eagerness Jamie lost the ball in half, but did his duty to win it back. Before anyone had realised he’d sprinted down the wing and as the defender approached he squared the ball to Rob to bury the winning goal.

There was more drama to come - with seconds left on the clock Rob lost the ball just outside our area and with the striker bearing down on goal Mark Laidlaw raced off his line to make an awesome save, one of many on the day. Probably worth a mention that at 1-1 Mark made an outrageous save from a back pass that looked destined for the opposite corner of his goal - that’s one way of getting on the score sheet Salvatore ;)

Man of the match goes to Mark as nominated by the team. Gimp of the game goes to Jamie for his ‘conversion’. Two in row Jamie! ;)

Morningstar FC A: WBI 3-3 MFC A

Team: Petit, Donovan (Llupa), Hart, Whitelaw, Modi (Elliott)


Scorers: Whitelaw (2), Llupa



Another well fought game, we were unlucky not to get the win with a number of efforts coming really close. There's no doubt that had we another five minutes on the pitch, we'd have taken the win. They were losing the plot, and we were all over them.

There were some great moves again, some good one-touch stuff and I think the marking did improve. Still something to focus on though as we did get caught out a couple of times. Thanks to Andy and Ed for taking the goalkeeping responsibilities.

So at least we're off the mark now. We've certainly got no problems scoring, just need to work on keeping them out of our net a bit more ;) Well done though everyone!

Morningstar B 0 – 0 Ipreo

First game of the season and our first point. Well done boys! We’ve come on leaps and bounds since last season and we were within a whisker of getting the winner today. We dominated large parts of the game and it was only in our eagerness to find that elusive goal that we let down our guard a bit and allowed them to create few chances they had. Thankfully when those chances came, Tom (our stand-in ‘keeper for the day) was on hand to keep them at bay and give us a clear sheet.

Robin and Jamie showed great link up play and tireless running, especially in the first half and both were unlucky not to get on the score sheet. Mark and Salvatore came into the team and slotted in comfortably amongst our more seasoned players. Jim ran the flank well and made his usual solid tackles to win possession back for us so Ipreo couldn’t get on the front foot. Finally, Scott was outstanding, making key tackles and barking orders from the back ensuring everyone pulled their weight.

One of the keys today was having subs to bring fresh legs into the game. This kept us on the attack for the majority of the game and I felt we were unlucky not to win. All the signs were very encouraging so let’s build on what we did right today and I’m sure we’ll start banging in the goals.

Man of the match goes to Scott – without him Tom would have had a lot more work to do and it could have been a very different game. Gimp of the game goes to Jamie for getting sin binned. And for being a gimp.

Morningstar A: Fitch 4 – 3 MFC

Match report

Team: Whitelaw, Llupa, Hart, Rossi, Petit (Elliott)
Scorers: Whitelaw (2), Llupa

Firstly, congratulations on a good game today. Tom and Arben did great jobs in goal, making some brilliant saves, including Tom’s excellent penalty stop. I think we played some good football when we were on the ball, and Arben was unlucky to have a goal disallowed. The second half was an improvement on the first, and I think that’s to be expected with it being the first game of the season.

The main point to take away from today’s game I think is to concentrate on marking and making sure a) you always have a man, b) if you have more than one, let the team know, and c) try and keep goal-side. All basic stuff we can easily improve on, and I think will make a big difference. And it definitely pays to have a shot, so I don’t want anyone to hesitate. I’d rather you had the shot and missed than not have it at all…

Well done everyone. A win’s on the cards next week, I can feel it ;)

The blog returns

Welcome to the Morningstar FC Blog – left unloved and untouched for over a year, it is now once more the place to get your weekly MFC fix.

We will post match reports, team progress, and any other information relevant (or otherwise) to both the Thursday and Friday teams.

MSFC 2-0 Redsox

After a storming start to the new season, Morningstar came face to face with top of the table Redsox in what proved to be a tense but thrilling match. Morningstar had won their first two games 5-1 and 4-1, whilst Redsox won their previous match 7-0!

Redsox started the better and pressured the MS goal in the first few minutes but a few wild shots were as good as they could muster against a defence expertly marshalled by Donovan and Modi. Soon Mstar were passing it round with confidence and Hart, Donovan and Whitelaw were all denied by great saves by the talented Redsox keeper and Donovan struck the bar. After 8 minutes though a crisp move ended with Donovan bursting through and slotting home to make it 1-0. Redsox countered and Rouse, in nets in place of a busy Crow, pulled off a great diving save to keep Mstar ahead at the break.

Petit and MacDonald came on early in the second half and continued to frustrate Redsox's attempts to break through with what was a brick wall of a defence. Mstar were now playing some great counter attacking football and Donovan hit a post and Whitelaw went close twice more before he chipped home the killer goal with 3 minutes left. Redsox were well and truly beaten and to be fair never really looked like scoring.

Performance Rating: Frighteningly Efficient

Quotes: "Gerrard does it, Lampard does it, Jamie does it..." Newby goes way overboard on Jamie's ability to hit a ball and make it dip
"The kit is on its way!" Tom delivers the news that from early October Mstar will have a shiny new kit with logo on it
"For 11 against 2, that's Wolves form!" Del puts a typically 'lower league' perspective on Mstar's impressive goal difference

MSFC 3-0 NIG

A brace from Ed, a neat finish from ChrisE and a whole load of running and tracking back gave M* a 3-0 win over an NIG team that were better than the scoreline sounds. We were also helped by the red card their keeper got for handball.

Definite candidate for Goal of the Season should have been Jamie's volley from the half way line as the ball dropped over his shoulder, but the ref had already blown for a free kick to us. What advantage?

Next up - IPREO. Nothing like a grudge match, is there ;-)

Del