Let's hope things really do only come in 3s!

Team Sheet : EthanR, EthanT, James, Lewis, Oliver, Rui, Thomas, Travis

And we go again! The weather’s getting properly cold now, and the Iguanas were to play the return leg to the Radars away on their astro turf, and with several players out of action. Still, the extra pitch time would likely be useful to keep warm at least!

With just 8 available players, Rui took to the bench for the first stint.

The Radars made the first attacking push, but good passing from EthanT, Lewis and Thomas gave the Iguanas the upper hand in the first 10-minute spell. EthanR was also putting in some great tackles with cover from EthanT, ensuring the ball was often in the Radars’ half of the pitch. Lewis and Thomas combined to force a couple of saves from the Radars’ keeper, and Thomas put a well lofted corner by Travis just wide of the goal.

As the Iguanas continued to push, the Radars gave away a free kick on the edge of their box. EthanT took this well, and Lewis’s resultant shot was cleared. EthanT passed it back into the danger area and the Radars’ keeper looked to have fumbled the ball as Lewis put it into the net, but the goal was disallowed, the keeper judged to have hands on the ball. EthanT followed up the attack from the restart and had a decent shot saved.

Travis was then replaced by Rui after a hefty tackle left him nursing his leg.

The Radars now made their first strong push. The Iguanas were too slow to close this down and the Radars managed a strong close-range shot. Whilst Oliver was able to parry this away, the ball went to a Radars’ attacker and they were ahead, largely against the run of play.

The Iguanas dusted themselves down and broke once more from the restart, Thomas making nice runs into the opposition half, but a couple too many touches saw his break end up going wide.

Travis gave Thomas a breather from his energy sapping runs, and immediately hooked up with Lewis who passed the ball to EthanT, only for the shot to go wide. Another similar break saw Lewis clear on goal but again the shot was placed wide.

Then once more against the general run of play, the Radars made a reasonable break into the Iguanas’ half and with some good interplay in the Iguanas’ box, found their opposition not communicating properly. Oliver drifted towards the attacker on the ball, losing his angle on goal and allowing the Radars to slip the ball into the net.

Again, the team didn’t let this get them down. Thomas came on for James and took up where he had left off, now rested, running at the Radars. A couple of decent attacking opportunities were created, but unfortunately the Iguanas were unable to finish and so went in at half-time behind.

Half time.

James started the second half on the bench, and with the weather not getting any warmer this was likely the least desirable place to be, despite the Iguanas having their work cut out!

The Iguanas were again strong from the restart, pushing into the Radars’ half. A couple of crosses were well saved by the Radars’ keeper, and the Iguanas were again unable to convert good pressure into a goal.

Rui was proving solid in defence, getting in amongst the Radars and pressing deep. A corner taken by Lewis bobbled around the Radars’ penalty box but could not be latched onto by an Iguanas’ player.

This continued for a 10-15 minute spell, the Iguanas pushing hard. The only break the Radars managed was nicely intercepted by Oliver, but the play continued to be in the Radars’ half, albeit lacking that final finishing touch. Then a good throw by Travis (the ref being keen to see good throws!) was picked up by Lewis, who this time made no mistake putting the ball past the Radars’ keeper.

James came on to give EthanR a rest and was immediately put into action with defensive tackling.

The Radars seemed to sense the substitution might throw the Iguanas’ shape and started to push quickly. And so it proved…a break on the left led to a cross and saw the far post unprotected by the Iguanas and a couple of Radars’ players on the ball for an easy tap in.

The play from here until the end was more evenly balanced. The Radars pushed well, but so did the Iguanas. EthanT laid the ball nicely off to Lewis who hit the post. EthanR replaced Rui towards the end of the game and was unlucky not to score from a late throw in. The Radars managed to break a few more times too, and the final attempt of the game was theirs, but nicely collected by Oliver.

The full-time whistle blew, leaving the Iguanas with their third defeat in a row. This was a better performance than the last couple of games, but there is still a long way to go before the Iguanas are back to their best. The standard of finishing today was the biggest issue. Plenty of half chances were created but none converted, whereas the Radars were more ruthless in capitalising on defensive errors. Communication between the team needs to improve further too, as does the accuracy of passing, with the Iguanas putting themselves into trouble needlessly and unable to string together more than a few passes before giving the ball away needlessly too often.

But it was definitely an improvement, if not the result we would like to have seen. Hopefully we can get back to better results next week.

Iguana of the Match : EthanT – worked hard, running all over the pitch and never stopping.