April 2009 - The Fat lady ain't singing yet!
After yesterdays result I suspect that most people in the club feel dejected and disillusioned. None more dejected than me, but disillisioned - NO. I still believe the club can stay in senior football and have a decent finish to the season. The next game on Tues evening is a cup final that would be nice to win and as with all 4 matches so far has offered a brief respite fron the pressures and stress of trying to maintain senior status. It would be easy to dismiss how the pressures of the last few games has affected the lads. Missed penalties, (I would bet good money all despatched without fuss in a training session), poor decisions and lack of composure etc have been in a number of cases down to the pressure of the occasion. Often mistakes are made by those that try the most. O.k. this is not the Premier league or a European Cup but all things are relative to the people involved and their experiences. So how do you sort it? .. only by getting a balance between getting the lads motivated by the importance of the occasion and at the same time taking away the fear... the fear of making a mistake, the fear of losing. Somehow we have to be bigger than the occasion. Unfortunately belief by players in themselves and the team is not easy when you keep losing. The most annoying thing of recent weeks is the silly goals conceeded and the missed opportunities whilst our overall play has been better than the opposition and has warranted a better result and points which would already have seen us safe. Lack of training has been a major factor, using 31 players in 12 games through injuries etc and the lack of understanding this brings has been a major factor, bad luck a major factor and on Sat, 3 call offs in the previous 36 hrs a major factor. But we cannot dwell on these and have to learn to grind out a result. However, I have to say that the general attitude and committment of the players throughout this period, before, during and after games has been excellent. I have seen very few instances of players giving up and must applaud the lads for this, all 31 of them !!! Over the next few weeks we have a mish mash of fixtures (see website) involving both teams and must try to keep results coming in whilst trying to be fair to as many players as possible.The problem now is involving players who have not played for 2, 3 or more weeks with unknown fitness levels. Tues game at Bungay is an example where many players have helped over 4 games to get us to this position. There is no way I can include them all in the final. We also have Players who haven't played but who could help to win it.
Finally, I repeat what I said at the beginning of this offering i.e. that L.S.F.C. will be in senior football next year. Maybe its wishfull thinking, maybe bravado, maybe we may be lucky and only one team is relegated. I still believe we have everything to play for and our approach to the next few games must be positive, upbeat and fearless. It may still come down to the last kick in the last match but its not all over until the fat lady sings!
As a brief addition I would like to get my hands on the "person" who on Sat knicked the chain that secures one of the goals. I would not be interested in "taking away the fear" nor striking a balance between motivating him and ripping his b...... head off. But "grinding out a result" would come high on my agenda!
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