Dilemmas in Football management

The boys' football team were defeated by Henley College 4 – 2. This was St. Clare's fifth and final game in the league. Before kickoff St. Clare's were top of the table on goal difference from the Oxford Academy with Henley College in third place. We now wait for the final results from other fixtures to hear whether St. Clare's has qualified for the semi-finals of the Oxfordshire Schools league.

The game plan was simple. In possession we had to move the ball quickly and out of possession we did not give the opposition time to settle on the ball. Bledar Noka came close to scoring in the first three minutes. Goal scoring opportunities continued for James Cavalot, Daniel Galalae and Janez Kosec. However St. Clare's failed to score. Henley scored twice in the space of 10 minutes. First from the penalty spot after a clumsy challenge from Arved Pohlabeln and then a fine strike after a mix up in the defence. The Management made two changes at half time. Marco Ferrari made his debut in replacing Salah Al Athba and Tito Gutierrez replaced Arved Pohlabeln. The reshuffle work and Tito scored twice to bring the match level. There was 15 minutes left in the drama. In the past Henley College have defeated St. Clare's, 9 -2 in 2009 and 10 – 0 in 2010.

The Management team faced a dilemma;
Should St. Clare's settle for the draw and reshuffle the team to become more defensive or should the team push for the winner? We chose the latter and paid the price. Henley scored twice more before the end.

The team on duty was;
1. Chung Yin (Nicolas) Fan;
2. Arved Pohlabeln;
3. Matthieu Baudon;
4. Giulio Zuccoli;
5. Rezo Makalatiya;
6. Janez Kosec;
7. Salah Al Athba;
8. Ridi Kotja
9. James Cavalot;
10. Bledar Noka;
11. Daniel Galalae;
Replacements: Shi Yang Zhang; Francesco Garosci; Lodovico Castelli; Marco Ferrari; Tito Gutierrez

March

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