Team: McCreath (GK), Eryoruk, Taylor, Bugge, Di Fabio, John Pellegry, Gutierrez, Criado, Drochon, Appleby

MOM: McCreath

The omens before the game were not bright. We struggled to get a full team, and by this I mean just eleven guys who could defend the thirds, till then, fine record. Calls were made right and left before the game at Montgomery’s (our meeting place) but we headed into deep Flandersnot knowing whether we would play with nine guys or ten. At the pitch Eryoruk came to our rescue and was greeted accordingly as we were capable of at least putting ten guys on the ground. The pitch was nice and the weather fine, but we were just ten guys and inevitably paid the price for not being able to secure a full team.

The plan was to play a 3-5-1, do not get any red cards and see whether we could get by and defend a good result. The week before the thirds managed a victory against a much stronger team so the idea was to see whether our luck could stand once again against the odds.

The game started very badly for us, we did not organise ourselves properly and the defence and midfield did not link well. We left basically too much space with a defence of three and after 15 minutes we were already losing 1-0. Things did not look good but we fought back, the defence and midfield began to look credible and we began to push and created a few chances, basically corners, corners, many corners.

As such, in defence, Taylor, Bugge and Eryoruk began to apply a no-nonsense policy. Up front the injured (and only 4 foot tall) Appleby fought desperately alone but was still able to win most arial challenges against the significantly taller opposition defenders! In midfield, Di Fabio and Drochon began to circulate the ball sagely. Pellegry, Gutierrez and Criado did a couple of decent runs which ended mostly in corners. And in one of these corners, Criadomanaged to get a loose ball and score through thousands of legs.

We tied the match and for ten minutes we looked as we could win the match. We continued pushing, Taylor hit the cross-bar with a long range effort from all of 30 yards (although he might tell you it was more like 40.....) and we were able to put the wind up Ettekijs. Sadly, this only lasted till half time. Ten minutes indeed.

And then the reality check, we collapsed. We left too much space, Ettekijs got new players and our strength just faded away. Little to say here. We continued playing a defence of three which managed rather well, but midfield was simply non existent, we had basically no chances and we spent most of this half defending the tie not very comfortably.

McCreath saved us on numerous occasions during the game and deserved well the MOM but he could not save the game alone and it was a matter of time before Ettekijs was able to score the winner. Ettekijs was not an impressive side and with eleven or twelve players we should have been able to win this game but they never despaired and finally scored the 2-1. Their third and last goal came just five minutes before the end. Criado lost a ball in defence and they smacked the third in not time.

Frustration. Lots of frustration. Ettekijs asked repeatedly why a side such as ours, then second in the league could not manage a team of eleven. They could not believe it. The truth is that even with ten we should have done a bit better. The sole consolidation was that Benitez has a worse Sunday than we did. The season is long and the lesson is simple, we need at least to put in place a team of eleven.