The best thing that can be said is that the players improved in the second half.
The first half was nearly all Desford who punished the continuous mistakes with 3 goals and could have had more. The brief periods of pressure Rugby Town had were always ended with Desford breaking clear and getting behind the defence to create chances. The players’ heads were down with very little movement, communication or support for each other.
At half time the players were all disappointed with the way they were playing and the message was simple – you can all play much better! The team had to pick themselves up and try again and they did that. The defence looked more secure with Amber playing particularly well and Jodie playing confidently in goal even if not feeling it. The team started to play better and create chances.
Charlie got past the defence with direct running a number of times before unfortunately injuring her knee and despite having players feeling the exertions the remaining 9 players kept going. Ella scored a close-range goal and Molly put in a number of good crosses from open play and corners which could have easily resulted in more goals and whilst Desford had chances they were generally dealt with much better by the Rugby Town defence.
In a way a good wakeup call to the players that mistakes will be punished by the better opposition and they have to be on their game all the time. The first half today was experience to be learned from and not repeated and the players are still more than capable of having a successful season and going forwards from today’s game