Developing concentration levels in football - suggestions welcome!

The final 12 minutes of our league game against Farringdon College provided a reminder to the boys' football team about concentration. The statistics at the end showed that St. Clare's dominated ball possession, made more passes, had more shots at goal but they lost the game 4 – 3. Farringdon scored their last two goals in the last 12 minutes.

Before the game the boys' knew that two wins from the last two games would ensure a place in the Oxfordshire County Final plays off. During the game St. Clare's worked attack, after attack but were foiled by the excellent Farringdon Goal keeper. However Rezo Makalatiya scored two fine goals and Remigiusz Manko added a third. This was a wonderful outcome from the team's two attackers. Nick Fan, Arved, Shi Yang, Ridi and Janez were dealing with the Farringdon attack. In midfield, the creativity of Daniel Galalae, Nik, Federico and Milivoje was very pleasing to watch.

So how did St. Clare's lose this game? As mentioned before, concentration, both from individual players and collectively as a team. On occasion, individual players conceded free kicks to Farringdon very close to the goal, other times, the whole team were too slow in arranging themselves to defend a corner kick.

The big positive for the boys' football team is that they are playing a level of football which goes beyond just being competitive in this league. The experience of not defending the goal advantage until the end of the game last week will motivate St. Clare's to do better in our final league game against Oxford Cherwell Valley College (OCVC).

The team on duty was;
Chung Yin (Nicolas) Fan; Janez Kosec, Shi Yang Zhang; Arved Pohlabeln; Ridi Kotja; (Captain), Niklas Rehm; Federico Pileri; Daniel Galalae; Remigiusz Manko; Rezo Makalatiya; Milivoje Sestovic.

Injured/illness: Marco Ferrari and Arjaldo Karaj.

March