lichfield city 2 v 1 bromsgrove
best performance ive witnessed not just for the football we played but for the passion and character my lads showed today against a very good experienced bromsgrove side.
a record 250 people turned up to watch the game and they saw 2 good sides compete for the points"we didnt know a lot about bromsgrove so we prepared exactly the same way as we did for saturdays victory over perrywood,we knew they liked to play and knock the ball around so we just got into there faces and made it hard,captain martin green lead us to an excellent result "martin green done a real captains job today,it was one of the best displays of defending ive seen for a long time from my back four bromsgrove threw everything they had at them and they stood firm and absorbed the lot and my captain was man of the match for it,hes an experienced lad i brought him in because hes a leader and lead the team by example"
lichfield were once again thankful to keeper dan edwards,"dan was superb on saturday and today he pulled off the best save ive seen,bromsgrove broke fast and put a superb ball into the box where griffiths hit a strike bound for goal but somehow edwards got a hand onto it and kept it out,dans become a real match winner so far and as ive said before he showing why he has the reputation as one of the best in the league and why he was shortlisted last season for the mid-com representative side".ironically i was edwards who gifted bromsgrove there 25th minute goal when zac blood was brought down in the penalty area by edwards skipper richard grifiths made no mistake from the spot.
we had asked the lads to show character and they didnt dissapoint,straight from kick off we got at them and were rewarded when new striker dan hodgkins hit a superb 30th minute strike from a difficult angle into the top of the net to level the game.we continued to press and genuinly missed 2-3 chances to go 2-1 up,"we did miss some chances and we could really have put the game to bed by the hour mark,at times the lads have got to take responcibility and strike for goal instead of trying to pass the chance to others,it happened saturday and it happened again today and its an area we cant help the players with,they do everything right then sometimes dont make the right decision and pass the buck and try to set there team mates up,but thats down to confidence in tight games and its a problem that has to right itself sooner rather than later or at some stage its going to cost us " the second goal came once again from jon dutton in the 35th minute with a typical dutton finish,"jons lethal simple as that,you dont win he golden boot for nothing and this lad has it all and today hes got us an important victory against a side fancied to win the league"
"what people dont see is the work that goes on behind the scenes,i have a fantastic team of coaches behind me in andy mc ray kelly and new man frank mcleod,were playing well and its down to these people as much as the players,they have the lads playing and training with confidence and the players are enjoying being part of lichfield city fc"