A fourth defeat in five

Although they can count themselves unfortunate to have taken nothing from Cove in this game.

With several attacking options missing a reshaped side competed well and were for the first time in weeks the better side. With key players being asked to play different roles than usual it could have been forgiven if the teams play lacked fluency but Aaron Leacock and Adam Cheadle in particular fitted seamlessly into the positions they occupied.

On a difficult surface and against a side playing just one up front we were rarely troubled, enjoying a decent amount of possession without creating any meaningful chances, the best opportunity falling to Alistair John who’s weak effort was comfortably turned away for a corner.

Aerially we were effective and creating half openings, although none of the bits and pieces that fell our way troubled the home keeper. On the half hour the strangest of decisions denied us the lead. A half hit clearance fell to Matt Holley, whose forward pass to the edge of the box was helped into the penalty box only for the Cove defender to clearly handle.

Play was allowed to continue as the ball reached its intended target, Cheadle, who promptly fired home. As the whistle went it seemed as if the referee had chosen to award a penalty, which in itself would have been disappointing but to award a free kick against us for shirt pulling beggars belief.

As often happens when you are out of luck our opponents then enjoyed a moment of good fortune albeit we gave them a huge helping hand with some poor defending as an over hit cross was headed back across goal by James White for the forward to gleefully head home.

At the break and trailing by the odd goal we new with Coves conservative approach chances would be limited.

As the game progressed however and with a fair percentage of possession we gradually started to exert some consistent pressure.
A foul on Alistair John early in the second half allowed Leacock to deliver a well directed free kick that saw Zak Graham head wide when he could have done better.

Alistair John’s pace was causing problems more regularly as the clock ticked and one such run into the box was stopped clumsily only for the referee to wave away the strong appeals for a spot kick.

The best phase of play and our best chance of the game came shortly after when some intricate passing between Zak Graham and Alistair John resulted in Grahams shot rebounding off the bar.

Try as we might Cove remained resilient at the back and some fine last ditch blocking in particular to deny Cheadle when he looked sure to score kept us at bay.

As the game entered the last ten minutes and with us throwing caution to the wind Cove could have extended their lead but poor finishing and calm goalkeeping and defending ensured the arrears weren’t doubled.
In the final minute we had another shout for a penalty when the defender was deemed to have had the good fortune to have had ball to hand twice in quick succession. Surely on another day at least one of these would have been awarded.

A disappointing result but with a much needed three week break I’m sure it will allow the management to regroup and re focus the players and hopefully see a few of the long term injuries to clear up.