Wrington Reserves 1 v Uphill Castle Reserves 4 W & D Div 1
Reality Bites as Reserves Now Lose at Home
After a tricky start to the season with three away games, The Reserves were hoping to bounce back with a win at The Rec which last year proved a fortress for them. However, a demoralising defeat means they need to reassess quickly or they will be looking very much down rather than up the table. With several key players returning from the first team , hopes were high but following the pattern of recent defeats they conceded a sloppy early goal . The rather relaxed pre match preparation is really not working and the management must rectify this. The real disappointment was that man for man, Wrington had the more skilful players and at times looked like they would over run the visitors only to give the ball away cheaply or the final pass to go astray. Having been knocked off their stride by the early goal, it took 25 minutes before they could establish their passing game and finally equalise. For the rest of the half they continued to create chances and the busy Joe Moore had a goal disallowed and a rising shot pushed over the bar and they really should have been ahead . At the other end of the field James Williams in goal showed some assured handling and shot stopping to keep any threat at bay. However, their lack of fitness was already beginning to show as the distance between the defence and attack grew larger and larger until disconnected almost entirely. Like many an England team, players reputations grow when they are not playing and Matt Lenny and Paul Faulkner were sorely missed.
Turning around still level, there was little improvement in the second half and the quality on show was not great. To their credit, having weathered the storm , Uphill showed the greater energy and desire and as Wrington tired took full advantage. Their second goal was a little ugly with the ball ricocheting off tackles and bouncing around the box before going in. This was a real hammer blow to the home side who had several chances to have cleared the ball. Even after using all three subs, Wrington couldn’t stop the game becoming stretched and poor defending resulted in two further goals for Uphill and in truth it could have been more.
Wrington have the chance to respond immediately as they invite Caledonian Thistle to the Rec next Saturday but will need to improve on any performance yet this year if they are to get a result…although it would be just like them to produce a performance when least expected!!