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This Week's Front-View (By Fergal Brislane)

If last week we could claim to be the victims of a horrific refereeing experience this week the only horrifying aspect was our own performance. Credit where it is due and after firing plenty of darts in the direction of the officials last week I must say that the individual on duty last Saturday for our fixture against Ards was one of the best and most consistent you could hope to meet in this division, where the quality ranges from the young up and coming to unwanted (and often hopeless) leftovers from the top table.

Anyway leaving all that aside Saturday as I said was certainly not about the referee and very much about ourselves. While morale was certainly not at the level you would like it to be coming into this game, mainly as a result of the disheartening result last week, there would still have been a quiet confidence that we could get a result on Saturday. One glance at the table showed that Ards were in a very similar position to ourselves and given the fact that we have yet to play anywhere close to our potential and would have home advantage meant this was a game we should be taking in normal circumstances. Unfortunately the difference between what should happen and the actual reality of life in this league for us this season has been witnessed on far too many occasions and Saturday was just another one of these occasions.

There can be no excuses from those of us who were out on the field last Saturday. Apart from Eoin Ryan who is missing since last week and Gerard Harmse who is just recovering from knee trouble the management had a relatively full deck to pick from. I’m no expert but there are plenty in and around the club who might think they are, I’m sure even most of them would have had few issues with the team that took the field. What we displayed in the ensuing 80 minutes was nowhere near good enough for what was pretty much our first choice team. You could pick out umpteen different things that were wrong with our performance but the most disturbing thing was that we just didn’t seem to want it badly enough. Its not my place to point fingers and given that I was withdrawn myself early in the second half I cant be too chuffed with my own efforts. But however hard it is to be out on the field on a bad day it was twice as bad watching it after being taken off. It did not make for pretty viewing and perhaps worst of all was the fact that everything seemed silent. While the Ards players grew in confidence and were clearly audible egging eachother on and giving themselves options we seemed to go into our shell, panicking on the ball, communicating poorly and worse still showing little motivation to get back into the game. There is no one person or thing to blame when this happens; encouragement and motivation should come from within, should be a collective effort but we showed none of that.

Once again I really do feel this was a team that on our day we could easily cope with but right now we are just not having our day… ever. This game is to a certain extent about luck but you make your own luck and we have a long Christmas break to take a hard look at ourselves and figure out what’s lacking because there is certainly something going amiss. There are many observers about the place who I am sure have their own opinions as to where it is going wrong but as players I certainly feel that most of the responsibility has to fall on us. We have got ourselves into this mess and from entertaining hopes of getting into a battle at the top of the table two weeks ago we are now staring a relegation battle in the face. Our next opponents, Sundays Well, lie 4 points behind us, in the drop zone and if we fail to get a result there in January it is their shoes we will be filling and that is something we just cant afford to contemplate. Traditionally we have slacked off on the effort over Christmas as it is so easy to do. But if we are to avoid a doomsday scenario at the end of the season we need to work our butts off for the next month rather than inflating them at the table or the bar.

There were no superstars on show for Ards but when they were in the various areas of the field they knew exactly what to do. They retained the ball well and when they needed to up the ante during a sin binning they did just that, actually outscoring us over that period. On the other hand we were often clueless with ball in hand and time after time coughed it up by taking poor options especially in our own half. We are not the Baa Baas and the sooner we realise that the better. Sometimes putting boot to ball and playing in the opposition half is the obvious thing to do but we seem determined to flute around with ball in hand in our own half and more often than not find ourselves on the back foot or without the ball as a result. Its extremely irritating as a forward and even more so for spectators who I am sure are rapidly losing faith. The poor crowd told its own story.

It is only in training that you can put these things right and once on the field it is solely the players responsibility to put it in action. If things are not turned around rapidly in the New Year the possible repercussions don’t bare thinking about and it is only those of us on the field who can change it. If you pass Tyone on a cold Christmas night and don’t see a decent number of lads going through their paces be afraid and very afraid. There can be no let up and we can worry about taking a break next April. With no upcoming games it will be a while before you hear from me again so Merry Christmas one and all and lets hope for more positive experiences in the New Year. Santa if you could bring us back our mojo that would be great!!

P.S: Well done to Johnny, Fergus and all involved with the seconds in Sundays Junior Cup success. What the first XV lacked in terms of desire was there in abundance on Sunday. Despite quite a bit of pressure from Old Crescent this was a team that simply wouldn’t take no for an answer. Perhaps some food for thought there for the rest of us.