Turning up to Concord Rangers at 2pm on Saturday afternoon, and it was already busy. I thought something's afoot here. The enthusiasm brought to the club in the summer, from the young lads doing the club's social media, the positive messages from the Chairman and the new management team telling everyone to get behind the club had paid off. As the time moved closer to kick off, it was great to see so many young fans at the ground, it's an excellent idea to give the youth team player's free season tickets. Hopefully many of them will be here for years to come, either as first team player's or fans.
With a couple of tricky away games coming up, talk before the game was already "this is a must win game". It was the first game of a new season! However this had been the life of a Concord supporter over the last few seasons. Pessimism. "I can't see us winning this." "How can we beat these?"
Looking at the match objectively before kick-off, Gloucester are a hard-working, durable side. No real stand out player's but a really hard team to break down. We would need an early goal to ease any nerves amongst the new supporters, and the one's who had been down this road before.
An entirely new playing eleven kicked off for Concord and for the opening 15 minutes, all thoughts about Gloucester were proving correct. They were a tough side to break down. Concord were pressing hard but struggling to create goal-scoring opportunities. Sam Blackman was all over the midfield, but I felt as he played a little deeper, picking up the scraps and recycling the ball efficiently that Concord grew more and more on top. A personal note about Blackman's overall performance, if he carries on playing like that week-in, week-out he will become a huge fan favourite.
There's no denying that there is more physicality about Concord this season, and the opening goal proved it. Lee Minshull muscly winning the ball from a corner and Alex Wall using his strength and power to turn and fire the ball home. Wall will be a huge handful for opposition defences at this level this season, and with excellent delivery from Hayes, Green and Knott he should be looking for twenty goals this season.
As the half-time whistle blew, in a match that Concord were looking very comfortable, there was an incident off the ball between Minshull and Gloucester's number 4 Hanks, Minshull was shown a red card. The referee had not seen the incident, but took the word of his Assistant Referee who was twenty yards away. Talk at half-time was that the sending off was very harsh. From what was seeming a nice stroll in the Saturday afternoon sun, now had taken a twist. All those pessimistic thoughts from season's past started rearing their ugly head.
A change was made at half-time, and Ryan Hayes was substituted for centre back Arron Pollock. Pollock apart from one early error was superb. Gloucester constantly lumped the ball forward, and Pollock time after time won the ball in the air and cleared the danger. In fact as the 2nd half grew on, it was Concord who were looking more and more like the side with eleven men. The second half performance reminded me of an away team in the Champions League, soaking up the opposition's pressure, not letting them having any opportunities, and then breaking on them at pace. There was some real team performances in that 2nd half, none more so than Jack Midson who worked tirelessly down the left flank, chasing and harrying every lost cause.
The second goal when it came from Concord was no surprise, and it was no real surprise that it was that man Wall again. The Gloucester defence were terrified of him all game. A long ball from defence a real 50/50 ball and Alex Wall turned it into his. He strode into the penalty area, and the Gloucester keeper could not keep out his firm shot from sixteen yards. A special word for the Gloucester goalie, who despite being on the smallish side was excellent. A young player with a real good future in the game.
So that was it, despite playing with ten men for forty-five minutes Concord won the game comfortably. There was none of last season's panic in defence. The team are well coached, and the player's complement each other. Pollock/Minshull winning the ball in the air at centre back, with the excellent Tyrone Sterling covering defend. Clohessy and Hayes linking up down the right. This is a really well thought out team, and full credit must go to Sammy and Jack for having a clear idea on how they want their team to play, and getting the correct players for the side.
So we go onto Tamplin Towers on Tuesday night, and we'll be looking to lay down a real marker for the season ahead.
#YAMC
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