Gaffers Gob: 16 March 09

Apologies for the delay in the publishing of the latest Gob. Reasons have been a mixture of crazily excessive workload as well as shame over the gaffers recent performances in goal. This admission in no way justifies the scandalous criticism that has been published on the blog.

To be fair, the gaffer still firmly believes that the ref miscounted last week and we actually beat Ali Jazeera. In any event, the team did perform well with a makeshift attack. In an absolute rarity, all outfield players scored. Alongside this, James is looking more assured up-front although he did tend to suffer and drop back when tired. What has been positive over the last two games is the way the Molly's moved the ball around and scored from all areas instead of relying on a focal point up-front. However, concerns and irritations continue about the lack of penetration or threat whenever we get a freekick.

i feel i should report on the Gaffer's and Lungboy's man-date to Pitch Invasion in Eastleigh. Overall saving on fees would be £7 per week. There were some significant differences in the rules which will take some getting used to and the pitch appears wider and longer allowing more room which would be good for Gareth. The starkest difference is the lack of head height rule which means that Mike can get away with his adventurous shooting. Keepers kick out and there are throw ins and corners. Also the D is in play to outfield players. That's good for me as i feel more comfortable dealing with attackers up close rather than long shots. The goals are narrower but slightly taller. Overall, i would say that the game looks as fast as Goals but with the extra area on the pitch, players will likely run further. I also noticed that keepers tend to run more to collect the ball and kick out. Alongside this, i was disappointed with the lack of a bar or changing area. Certainly, a season in Pitch Invasion will be a new challenge, but overall, I'm not convinced that it will be a positive change. The other option is a different 5 a side area in Millbrook, but this is on a Monday and i definitely don't want to change to a Monday night as i like playing mid week.

I guess that this issue will likely raise it 's head again in the future. Tomorrow sees the unexpected return of Robbie to the defence at a pre 8pm kick off. The opposition is unknown to us but they have not had the best start to playing at Goals, so hopefully we can pick up more points as Leo will be given more freedom to play further up the pitch.