The reference to Arsenal being similar to Favell was based on the recent fixture that many Gooners will still be trying very hard to forget.

Sunday morning and Matt was still very unsure who was actually going to turn up for the game…so much so that Matt was phoning around trying to drag some players out of their pits. Absentees and injuries meant that the team resembled the Arsenal team that faced United that day…

In reality the score-line did not reflect the possesion, passing and overall gameplay from Favell, for the most part a majority of the Favell players tried very hard for 90 minutes, created chances and were in the game. Locomotive from the start tried to dominate the game with quick closing down and very physical tackling, throughout the game it was clear that certain players had a separate mandate to fight.

Overall I think that the referee had a good game, he controlled the match and interveened when nessacery to calm down situations. Perhaps there was room for a few yellow cards for some Lokomotiv players who had no intention of winning the ball….but so far this season we haven’t had much in the way of luck or decisions our way.

The silver lining is thin but there none the less, Steve Jones got a terrific header to double his tally for the season….that’s more than he has ever scored for Favell, Ollie made his debut for the club and despite being out of the game for some time looks like he is going to settle into the team quite well. Kirk nearly scored…..lets repeat nearly! Lol and now the lads can rip Matty on his keeper statistics (which he boasts about from time to time)  as the amount of goals that passed him today have chiseled away at his record.

The disappointment really lies in the fact that Matt rarely knows who is really going to turn up from week to week, last week there was roughly 18 players and then this week there were barely 12. The real success in any club lies in the players and their availability, so far this season we have not put out the same side twice.

The remainder of this season should be used to work out our strengths and weaknesses and prepare for next season, so everyone needs to turn up as much as you can! (obviously work, injuries and other commitments play a part in that)

Training is now on every week and is proving to be a very good way to get a decent cardio workout aswell as learn some footy techniques to improve us a team. The more people that turn up the better the sessions will be and the more we can take from them.

Despite the position we find ourselves in, we still get players turning up to play, we are still signing up new players to make the team better and we still have a laugh together! Lets keep our chins up and soldiering on till the end of the season!

How does that song go?…’don’t worry….be happy’

…unfortunatly the same cannot be said for this fixture. I think that finally though the ‘Football Gods’ had finally shined some luck on the club by deciding that we would have a half decent Ref this week……that’s only twice this season! No doubt that we will be back to having Dave Allen for our next fixture #screwedagain.

To ponder over every aspect of the game I think would be pointless, we turned up, gave it a good go…..Jonesy scored (HOLY CRAP) and lost 5-1.

The more annoying feature for me was the moaning!…moaning about who plays, who’s a sub, who should start, who doesnt deserve to get a game, who is better than who, why your not picked and any other form of moaning that is pretty ridiculous! Matt for all intended purposes is doing everything he can to get the club back to winning ways, he is trying his hardest despite the critisism.

The gaffer has thought about what he wants to do until the end of the season, he has a plan and a direction for the club which is surely better than just winging it week by week. He is bringing in new players to try and improve the squad, additionally we now have weekly training sesions to work on fitness and teamwork….again surely a good thing!

Matt’s clearly set out a plan for how is giving the players a way to prove their worth…keep your subs up-to-date, attend training sessions (if possible), give 110% when you get to play and be an asset to the club not a hindrance. Ideally everyone will attend training….but realistcly not everyone will make it due to prior commitments, if YOU CANT make it, simply let Matt know why you cant and everything will be fine….Matt simply wants to know how many people care going to attend training. Just because you DO or DONT attend training is NOT the defining reason for getting picked to start a game or be a sub, but it is one of a few factors…

On average 8 people turn up to training, if turning up to training was the only deciding factor is getting picked then 3 other slots would need filling….how would they be filled? Steve Jones for example works in Leicester, works long hours and faces an hour commute home everyday and doesnt get home until the evening and cant make training…does this mean he should be dropped? He never complains, always pays his subs, is the most consistent player that we have in the squad, gives 110% despite the scoreline and is a real team player. Matt has a hard job of picking a team…every week he is going to annoy someone by not playing them and everyone has there version of how things should be done.

The truth is that there are 11 places to fill at the start of a game and 5 subs can be named with only 3 eligible to play, picking the best possible squad and keeping everything fair and square is never going to be easy and please everyone.

We are sitting at the bottom of the league boys, it cant get any worse and we have the opportunity to start winning some games as a team! It shouldnt be about who is getting 90 minutes, 60 minutes or 10 minutes….who you think you are better than or why you should start over another player. We are a team and should play that way.

Anyway that was last season and this is now…we have been improving over the last few games and with a few players returning from a brief enforced break (ahem Dave) to bolster the squad. This is not going to be a very long match report this week, the reason?….because a lot of stuff would just be repeated from the last few…..minus a few comments about Bobby scoring past us…(and yes it was annoying). Wootton are a very composed team who can pass the ball around, they play very well together as a team and quite rightly deserve to be in the position they are. Favell played well I think for periods of the game, we had some good chances early on that didnt quite materialise into goals.

We battled on despite the scoreline and that is all you can ask…never give up and just keep going! Wootton certainly dont like to be tackled and bullied so that is something to remember for future meets to use to our advantage (I wonder how they will fair against Golden Horse then?)

The Ref (who will remain nameless because I might boil over) had yet another shocking game I thought. Had he handled the Afeez situation better and quicker Afeez may well of stayed on teh pitch. That is of course not to justify anyone headbuttiong another player….there is simply no place for that in football.

We turned up…We tried…We lost…We went home…roll on the next game!

Matt named James Boyce as MOM this week…more hard work in midfield this week….that puts you in the lead mate.

Matt will be finding out about any fixtures over the Christmas period, right now there is nothing posted on the leagues website but that doesn’t mean anything….Matt will text everyone as normal.

More pictures to follow as there are many more…

Remember to leave a comment about this picture….its so easy to do!

Anyway back to the football side of things and Favell were ideally looking to pick up some points from this fixture after some better performances in recent games and also with the efforts we have witnessed in the new training sessions. It has to be said that it is a credit to the club that we have a group of lads that have been turning up week in week out despite our recent form…..it would be very easy to jump ship or simply not bother turning up. Our continued battle this season is for pride….regardless of what anyone says, we are playing for ourselves and the club.

Unfortunately the first ten minutes of this match fitted in to a regular pattern with WFFC…..we were asleep and paid the price……with 2 goals. To add insult to injury we let Bobby score a goal against us…..

After the 2nd was scored….we finally decided to wake up and got ourselves back into the game, suddenly the 11 headless chickens running around in red turned into a team working as one. Throughout the game Favell worked hard to get back into the game and to secure some points, Kirk worked hard and earned a penalty in the first half which Chrouchie tucked away (this was the first penalty he had taken for the club since missing and crashing the club out of a semi-final some 6 years ago).

Favell were the better team on the day and in my opinion fully deserved to take some points away from the match….football is a funny old game and today it wasn’t meant to be….that 2nd goal just eluded  us.

Overall it was a great team performance, we defiantly battled hard and work together as a team. Some vast improvements in attitude and commitments on the field and if we continue on in this way the remaining games will be a lot easier.

At the end of the game everyone decided that Lewis deserved the Man of the Match award this week, again he was consistent throughout the game, he battled hard and of himself forwarded down the wing to link up with Kirk and Crouchie…well done kid.

More to follow about next Sundays fixture, mid-week training and a competition from a local business….

on a further note….this section right here is just for Karl! – WE LOVE YOU KARL!-

 

View Larger Map

Training starts at 7:30pm sharp and it will be every Tuesday unless otherwise stated by Matt. Subs are only £4 to cover the hire cost of the pitch. We have had a couple of sessions now and they are very useful, a good laugh and are a good cardio workout. Feel free to bring along additional players to train….even if they are not interested in signing up for the club, the more the merrier.

For more information please call Matt on 07515667662.

In conjunction with Dorothy perkins, Kevin Legg (centre manager) is pictured with all the staff from Dorothy Perkins dressed to impress in order to raise money for charity. Kevin is always ready to get involved and help local and national causes and has planned many charity events for the customers of the Weston Favell Shopping Centre.

The club in past years has been keen to help in any way possible to raise money for good causes with Kevin and hopefully 2012 will see us raise even more money for the charities that need it.