Since my last blog things have been going really well for us and we have done really well to keep up our winning streak. There is no better feeling than winning and the confidence and belief it brings to the squad is huge.
The sign of a good team is being able to carve out results when you’re not at your best, and in the last couple of weeks that’s what we’ve done. We have nowhere near reached our potential yet, but we are building a good solid base for ourselves to build on.
We haven’t been playing bad by any means, we’ve had long periods in games where we have knocked the ball around and played well, but we are still a little way off playing how we are capable of.
After losing three on the bounce I think our confidence took a bit of a knock, but we have done fantastically well to turn things around, and now we need start being that little bit more brave on the ball and not be frightened to pass it about.
Academy match: Crystal Palace v Charlton Athletic
Our match against Charlton Athletic was another scrappy game in which we had to be fully focused and willing to get stuck in. It was great to get another clean sheet, our second on the bounce, and left us defenders feeling satisfied afterwards. We started the game well and had Charlton on the back foot for most of the first half. They had a few half chances but at half time we were pretty pleased with how we coped with them.
Alex Wynter grabbed himself a couple of well deserved goals to put us 2-0 up going into the interval. As always, we knew our game couldn’t drop in the second half and we needed to keep up the same intensity that had got us the two goal advantage.
The second half panned out pretty similar to the first one in that we had quite a bit of possession but didn’t really capitalise on it. They again had a few chances, but weren’t able to convert and the game finished a well deserved home win.
Academy match: Fulham v Crystal Palace
Our game the following week away to Fulham turned out to be probably our hardest game of the season. We weren’t too aware of their players beforehand, so in the week before the game we really just focused on our own game.
The tempo of the first 20 minutes of the game was ridiculously quick, and we had to do well to weather a bit of a storm. We still managed to only concede half chances and thankfully they weren’t stuck away. We had a few decent chances of our own that we could have taken the lead on but we unfortunately didn’t.
After a frantic opening period, the tempo dropped and to be honest I think it suited us. We got into the game more and started to get hold of the ball. We could have taken the lead before the break, but when we did get into half time on level terms we were pretty pleased.
We altered our tactics in the second half to make us more of a threat and I think we did that. We imposed ourselves in the attacking half and had lots more chances. As it goes, we conceded after a mistake at the back which was somewhat against the run of play. We responded really well though and managed to turn the game around and grabbed two late goals to take the three points.
It was a very even game and one that we did well to get the win. That result meant it was four wins out of four which has propelled us right up the table. After a poor start to the season (results wise) we have picked things back up and will be looking to make it five out of five against Portsmouth this weekend.
