First of all congratulations to our supporter Sally on winning the 50/50 with ticket 5279 prize £132.50. As for the game thought we should have had it sewn up in the first half. Did not take chances. Wingate better team than League position suggests. Enfield tough challenge on Tuesday.
At half-time, with Hastings 1-0 up and totally dominating the game, the expectation was that we would go on to win by 3 or 4 goals. Somehow, we lost our intensity and control of the game as Wingate won a succession of corners and free kicks. As usual, we defended well up until their goal. Firstly, a silly free kick to concede. Then there was only one place the left footed kick was going to go- whipped in over the penalty spot. There was a huge space there, either Louis had to come and claim the ball or we needed someone standing there to head it away. Neither happened and 2 points were lost. But some positives from the game- Kasim Aidoo did well and gives us balance with his left footed crosses and corners. Freddie Legg again looked a real prospect, particularly in the first half which resulted in their left back being substituted at half time. Our fluid formation kept Wingate guessing and it it was good to have Joe back, even if he did overplay at times. Big performance now needed on Tuesday.
No doubt at all that our second half performance was very poor, after a pretty reasonable first half which should have given us more than a one goal lead. All I would add is that the absence of experienced players in our midfield became more and more evident as the game went on. With the loss of TC to long term injury, the departure of Sam Hasler and Jack Dixon's suspension (one more game to go) we were very thin indeed in midfield and Wingate had some players who had the skill to exploit that. Their number 10 got better through the game and towards the end he was running at will in front of our defence.
Of course it was an untypical misjudgement from Louis / our defence which gifted them an equalizer, but we surely must strengthen the midfield if we aspire to get anywhere near the play offs.
Yes thought Wingate had a couple of good midfielders who got better as the game went on. Carshalton, through their no 8, also got the upper hand in midfield. Tom's injury is very unfortunate for him and, with Sam's departure, does make us a bit ordinary in the middle. However, Kane always puts in a good performance and to be on the edge of the play offs at this stage of the season is a good achievement.
