Limestone Playoff Technical Report - A Coach's Perspective

'Inches win matches'… Right? And it will be interesting to see how the remaining games of the NCAA Men's DII South East Region pans out. I expect it to be very close with little to separate the 4 remaining teams. Lander can maybe consider themselves a tad unfortunate to not be still in the competition having done enough to beat Limestone yesterday in the comically named Gaffney. A narrow, 2-1 defeat brought down the curtain on the 2008 season. Last month a much depleted Lander left Gaffney with a regular season defeat, again a narrow margin one-nil. But the scoreline did not reflect the bigger picture that day and limestone's superiority throughout. Tribute to the medical staff we were back yesterday with a full squad to pick from and certainly fancied our chances against an efficient but somewhat rigid opponent. We had adjusted the formation to a 4-3-3 with extra man in the middle hoping to stretch their midfield and allow us to control the game with more possession of the ball. With three also across the top we would make it harder for them to play out in anyway other than predictably, thus also asserting control when we didn't have the ball. The first half saw Lander create some very good goal-scoring chances in open play and off the set play. However limestone broke the deadlock after Lander failed to co-ordinate their restraining line and the stone's burst in 1v1 on Lander keeper Billy Hale to score. At the half-time whistle Lander could be disappointed with the scoreline but happy with a lot of performance aspects particularly the penetration to create opportunity. At half-time the key reminders to the players were that success was being best attained when we kept our distribution short and played into feet not spaces denying Limestone's physically big defenders opportunity to pick off percentage balls. The king of soccer psychology was also quoted, when Brian Clough said, 'It only takes a second to score a goal.' I think his message was don't panic stick to doing what you're doing and the chance will come. I felt it was important to impress this on the players' psyche. At the start of the 2nd half particularly good success was being found in wide left of the final third of the field with Adam Arthur now switched flanks and drawing defenders to him to create space for overlapping full-back Martyn Bell. However against the run of play limestone scored from long-range. A disappointing goal to conceded better pressure could have been applied on the ball to stop the ease of shot the limestone attacker had. The goal against galvanised Lander further, as they now exerted complete control getting overloads in the attacking half. With defender stepping into midfield. Potentially this left us vulnerable to a counter attack but this was never to materialise effectively. The comeback goal came from a flick header inside the six-yard box all afternoon the Limestone goalkeeper had failed to demonstrate authority with good delivery into the 18 yard box. The good keeper denies the opportunity to score here by coming out for the ball exploiting the fact that they are the only player who can use their hands. In fact in the denying seconds another ball into the mixer from a Craig Hughes long throw caused further panic in the scoring area creating a Volley opportunity for Adam Arthur to be reeling away have secured extra time. Alas. Unlucky, nah, you make your own luck to quote a relatively successful South African golfer and the perhaps the message for players and coaches to get between their ears for next season, 'The more I practise the luckier I get'.

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