The season has started and our destiny rest firmly in our own hands – it’s go time!
After a useful pre-season the time has finally come to lace up the boots and take to the field for football league action. No more mismatched friendlies or glorified training sessions. It is time to get down to business.
The target this season? It has to be promotion, it just has to be! Our goal is the glory lands of the English Premier League and if we are in any chance of achieving that in the foreseeable future, a great start is required.
Oldham v Sporting Loft FC
This encounter was always going to be just about the 3 points. Nothing else matters in the first game, just make sure to get them all important league points.
Well, the SLFC lads certainly received this message loud and clear – because this match was a pleasure to watch.
It couldn’t have started any better when the eventual man of the match, Josh Pask nodded in from close range. The rest that followed was sensational attacking play that saw the away side run out 4 – 0 winners.
If this was the bar being set – it is going to be a very fruitful year.
Sporting Loft FC v Bury
Whilst the Oldham game was a one sided affair, this was surprisingly different. Despite the final result hinting at the former, the away side Bury certainly has their fair share of the game and could count themselves unlucky to not be on the score sheet.
That being said, we enjoyed the slight favour of the chances and more importantly converted said chances into goals.
Goals from Harry Anderson, Daniel Batty and Anthony Ford settled the game and Sporting Loft FC now sit 2 wins from 2 and proudly boast a full house of clean sheets. Not bad, not bad at all.
Coventry v Sporting Loft FC
The momentous occasion of our clubs first ever cup game had finally arrived and I personally was chomping at the bit to start a decent cup run that the fans could enjoy.
Coventry however, had their own ideas and certainly only turned up to spoil the Sporting Loft party. The game was utter domination from SLFC, every chance, every tackle and every area of the pitch was controlled superbly by the boys.
The only downside? WE JUST COULDN’T SCORE! It wasn’t happening at all, no matter how good a chance looked it ultimately was denied. 58% possession and 16 chances compared to their 3 just wasn’t enough to split us – so the dreaded penalty shootout awaited.
Unfortunately the pressure finally got to us and the experienced Coventry side went through to the next round of the Carabao Cup. It’s a tough one to take, given the one sided nature of the game – but that’s the beauty of football, anything can happen!
Overview
Over 270 minutes of football and SLFC are still yet to concede a goal. The only time the ball has graced our own nets had been in the 1st round of the Carabao cup against Coventry in a penalty shootout.
That, for me, is a fantastic start to our journey. Going into the season I didn’t overly expect the defence to be as solid as it has been – yes I expected us to do well but to not concede so far is a great achievement in my eyes.
Even when we dominated the game against Bury, we still had 14 chances against our goal which were all saved or missed – which shows that it isn’t just down to us dominating proceedings.
The disappointing aspect is the cup elimination, especially in the manner it occurred. We dominated that game and deserved something from it. Football is a cruel mistress at times and we bit the bullet on this occasion. I fully believe the players and me for that matter, will learn from this and use it to better ourselves as the year continues.
