Troopers – Valiant in defeat!

Saturday 12 Feb 2011 – KCA Dynamos vs HT Troopers, Venue: Hervines Lane, Amersham.

Mark Smith reports:

The Troopers went down 8-2 to KCA Dynamos.  That score line looks bad but in reality, these heavy losses are starting to look like they flatter our opponents!

The pitch was horrendous with the mud “patches” we were warned about resembling Peruvian sink holes – so it’s a wonder we still had a full squad left by the end of the match! Obviously, the pitch was the same for both teams but KCA seemed to make the most of it, starting brightly and catching the Troopers’ defence half-asleep several times. 

By the last 10 minutes of the first half though, there was very little to choose between the sides and the Troopers kept KCA pinned back in their own half.  The second half started much the same as the first half, with the Trooper’s defensive frailties exposed several times, resulting in more goals – not helped by the failure of several midfielders to get back behind the ball once KCA had possession.

However, there were many positives to be had from this match.  The Troopers got the upper hand mid-way through the second half and again showed superior fitness (is that the Monday night effect?) over the last 20 minutes, stringing some really good passes together and, most importantly, keeping the ball for long periods and creating several chances, missing a couple of “sitters”, and eventually scoring two goals.

Without the four soft goals we gave away, including another own goal, and if the Troopers had managed to put another couple of great chances away, the score could quite easily have been 4-4 – so some good results are just around the corner I’m sure!

There were some notable performances – Tino was again singled out by the opposing coach as a player with some real talent, proving a real handful for the KCA defence.  Darius showed good maturity; using his power and strength to hold off KCA players and scoring both Troopers’ goals – making him our top scorer so far this season on 5 goals.  Sam Cloke showed some nifty footwork and made some great passes.  James Smith fought hard in midfield and later at centre back and created chances with his free-kicks and corners.  Matt Sewell also fought well in midfield and was involved in several good massing moves.  Sam Wainman was again excellent (and very busy at times) in goal – showing real confidence in coming out and diving at KCA players’ feet to claim the ball.  Man of the Match was Amin Zouine.  Having played well in the last few games, Amin continued to improve his game against KCA and was our most consistent player last Saturday – stopping pretty much every KCA attack that came his way and showing real maturity in keeping hold of the ball until he could see, and make, a good pass – something he also does consistently at Monday training – so well done Amin.