By Manager Craig Randall
London Falcons 0 - Leicester Wildecats 1
G.F.S.N. League • Sunday, 16th December, 2007 • Old Deer Park, Richmond

The GFC Bournemouth game was postponed the previous weekend giving us (Falcons) a brilliant chance to go top for christmas, providing of course we beat the boys (and ladies) from Leicester. Unfortunately, this was not to be.

The game having been scheduled to take place at Sheen Common at the earlier time of 12pm we suffered the first set back of the day. The pitch was frozen over and both Falcons and Wildecats agreed that the game should be played in Richmond, the home of the Titans. After getting all the players and supporters across to the Old Deer Park, we were able to kick off at 12.30pm.

In what was best described as the worst performance by Falcons I've seen so far in both seasons we've been playing, we went down 1-0 to a battling Leicester Wildecats team.
Without taking anything away from Leicester I felt we never really got our game going. We were a far cry from the team that beat Village Manchester and the side that utterly destroyed Brighton Bandits in the first half of the Cup game in November. A few players were tired, others were getting frustrated and were getting caught in a 'quicksand' situation where they would make a mistake, then try harder and they get worse!

The first 45 minutes we were slow to get going and our passing game on the awful pitch was severely disrupted. Leicester benefited by hitting long balls any time it neared 25 yards from their goal and it took us about 30 minutes before we caused any kind of pressure. Tony Kerr started to cause problems down the right wing, but the pressure was short lived and both teams went in 0-0 at the break.

When things didn't improve, 10 minutes into the second half I made 3 substitution. Alex B, Tom Price and Tony Kerr were replaced by Lewis Marshall, Chris Maughan and Luke Tuffs.
Lewis showed great commitment and gave 100% when he came on for Alex B and made some good runs, made some good passes. Chris Maughan calmed the midfield down and we started to look a bit dangerous. And it was good to see Luke Tuffs make his 1st team debut playing in the unfamiliar role of right wing. Tuffs made a few good runs, but I felt was struggling with the position however he was soon back in his usual position.

It must have been about the 80th minute mark when Leicester beat the offside trap and advanced on the Falcons goal and scored. Regrettably, having already been booked for throwing a ball at a Leicester player, the continued verbal abuse thrown at referee by keeper Aaron Jameson had gone over the line and a second yellow card, followed by a red was shown which meant having to shift things round. The ever dependable Rob Hyde went in the goal, Jamie O switched to centre back and Luke Tuffs took up his usual role at right back where he looked more comfortable.

Unfortunately the sending off killed off any hopes of us salvaging anything from the game, giving Leiceter more opportunities to come forward which Rob Hyde made some good saves to keep the score line at 1-0.

I must congratulate Heather and the Leicester Wildecats boys on their performance and their victory. Their team played in good spirits and showed what they are made of.

Despite the loss I feel very confident we can bounce back and maintain a strong challenge for the title. Up next is Leftfooters at Regents Park. Now people will look at the results and laugh at the mere suggestion that Leftfooters will pose any kind of threat to us, but then people did that with Leicester and Birmingham and look at what happened in those games. I look at Leftfooters and see certain individual players capable of causing problems for any team. Because of the ethos at the club, the system at Leftfooters is first come, first served so it really depends on who gets in first. One day it could be an awful team, another day it could be a really good side. This is a big game for us and I fully expect every member out on the field to be 100%, fully focused and up for the game.

To round this report off I would like to give praise to one player in particular who has been the rock at the back for Falcons for the last two seasons. Dan Walton (despite being a Spurs fan.... COUGH! 2-1 COUGH!) has been in my book the best player at Falcons. He was one of the rare few who gave everything in the Leicester game, which is the same in every match he's ever played for us - 110% commitment and effort every time!
Top stuff Walton, keep it up!

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