SealsTalk reflects on three talking points from Chester FC Women's 2-0 home defeat against Altrincham FC Ladies on Sunday.
1. Don't fix what's not broken. Following two wins on the bounce, the Blues went into the game high on confidence. For her double from the bench, Martin Fitzsimons chose to reward Amy Broomhead with a place in the starting XI with forward Sarah Gill dropping from her usual position as hold up-player to sitting just in front of the defence. For 60 minutes of the game, the Seals found it incredibly hard to break down a stubborn Altrincham defence. With 20 minutes remaining Chester were forced to change their formation going to a three at the back and pushing more forward GIll. This switch came just a little too late for Chester to pull it back.
2. The first home defeat of the campaign. Going into this game Chester boasted a brilliant home record so far this season winning three from three and scoring eleven goals in the process. With Altrincham having only played two games prior to their league position really had no meaning towards the game. They arrived with a clear game plan to push high and isolate when possible, which was executed to perfection. They made it incredibly hard for Chester to make changes in either half. With the second half of the season on the horizon and the majority of the games left to play. The Blues will be hoping the result was a blip and something they can put right next time out.
3. Possible plan b? Having been scoring goals for fun in their previous two games it was almost certain Chester would continue this trend, wrong. They way Altrincham set up they made it increasingly hard for any chances to be created. It took until the 65th minute for the Blues to register their first shot on goal. But simply what do you put this down to? On numerous occasions, the Seals tried to play through lines and create chances with runners this didn't prove to work. Neither did the long ball, with really strong winds on Sunday mastering a long ball through was almost impossible and too many paces went astray. Chester must be able to adapt when things are not going their way, food for thought moving forward.
Comments