IHM Football Academy – 2
Thomas Telford – 5
Date: Wednesday 25th October
Venue: Home
Competition: County Cup
Man of the match: Sodjantsan, Tony
Ellesmere College went out of the cup during “Expo Week” to a strong visiting side.
The Wednesday of “Expo Week” saw the County Cup home tie for IHM Football Academy at Ellesmere College, and a visit from one of the strongest sides in the area, Thomas Telford. With “Expo Week” being well underway, it gave the home side a real chance to prepare properly for the game, being able to work in the morning before the game on shape and set pieces.
As the first half kicked off it was clear that the visitors had done their homework and had fielded a strong side for this campaign. Thomas Telford controlled the game in the first half, pressing the home side effectively and preventing any flow in the Ellesmere play, something that we’ve seen in previous games. At times, during the opening period, the home side struggled to play out from the back, getting pinned back by the high press. The dominant performance from the travelling team saw Ellesmere come in at the break 3-0 down and having to regroup.
After the break saw Ellesmere with a much stronger performance, starting to find space to play and managing to get 2 goals back through Sodjantsan and a screamer with the Goal of the Season contender from Tony.
In the end, the strength and organisation of the visitors was too much for the international side, going out of the cup 5-2.
Head Coach, Brandon, commented:
“ We knew they would be a strong side, but to be fair we were a little disappointed at the first half. They pressed us well and dominated but we really didn’t do enough to compete and that really lost us this game.
I was pleased with the response in the second half, we had a good talk at the break and some honest discussions were had, and they reacted brilliantly. A great goal from Tony. Can’t wait to watch that one back, but ultimately the first half had made it difficult for us. If we’d have started better and maybe been a little more compact and solid, we could have given ourselves a chance in the second half.
Some positives to take away from that and some good learning points. Overall, they were a good side and deserved the win today and we need to reflect on that and now look to the next game to put things right.”
The Ellesmere players will be back in training next week, after a short half term break, and be looking to get back to winning ways.
