Alton assistant manager Leigh Keddle post-AFC Portchester
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00:00 Lee, heartbreaking exit there on penalties at Portchester in the Hampshire Senior Cup,
00:05 but plenty of positives, good performance, probably the best side there today?
00:09 Yeah, I think so. I think so. I think, yeah, I think you're right, you know, disappointing to go out on penalties,
00:14 but, you know, it's always a lot earlier, right? But yeah, we'll take all the positives from today.
00:18 You know, we had a much changed squad, you know, players out through injury,
00:23 you know, there's a couple of people that have been cup tied, but, you know, all of the guys that came in,
00:28 you know, players from our dev set up, you know, they've shown that they can play at this level,
00:35 you know, against a team that are pushing, you know, for promotion, you know, out of the Wessex League.
00:40 So, and yeah, they equipped themselves really, really well.
00:43 You know, small moments where we had some chances, particularly in the second half,
00:48 that we didn't quite take and they made some changes off the bench that freshened them up
00:53 and, you know, they got the goal at the end. But yeah, we'll take a lot of positives, you know,
00:58 for us, we just talked about it in there, you know, we're, you know, since October, the back end of October,
01:02 we've only lost one game, you know, that was the Farnham away game.
01:06 So for us, you know, today, you know, that's not a loss, you know, we've gone to the lottery of penalties,
01:11 but, you know, we've kept a really good Portchester side, probably second best for most of the game.
01:16 Yeah, and as you say, missing players, but didn't show and sort of in the first half, better side.
01:21 And what was the message at halftime then? Because then you really kicked on again at the start of the second half.
01:24 Yeah, yeah, exactly. So the message at halftime was more of the same.
01:27 You know, we know that we had, you know, nullified a lot of their threats.
01:31 You know, we talked about, you know, them playing quite direct, you know, the importance of the second balls and stuff like that.
01:36 So at halftime, it was pretty straightforward conversation. It was, you know, we've got to do this for another 45 minutes.
01:43 We needed to make sure that we didn't step off the game at all.
01:48 And then when we came out at the start of the second half, again, we were on the front foot.
01:53 We tried to take advantage of some of the spaces that we had, kind of wide and in behind.
01:59 And, you know, I thought we did that well.
02:01 You know, we were a bit worried when we had probably seven or eight minutes where the keeper was,
02:07 they changed the goal, he was injured, that might affect us.
02:10 But again, the boys done well, we went straight back at it.
02:13 And you got the goal from a corner. Good, good, obviously, from a set-piece there.
02:17 Yeah, we looked really dangerous at set-pieces this year.
02:19 Again, another good ball in the box from Perry and a great header from Alex.
02:23 So, yeah, I thought it was what we deserved to go 1-0 up.
02:26 And, yeah, we looked a threat all day at set-pieces.
02:29 Yeah, and obviously, Archie had a good chance there with that good run that just went over.
02:33 Yeah, I think when you play games like this and, you know, the small margins between the teams, it's those sort of moments.
02:39 You know, Archie done really well to carry the ball into the box, you know, round a couple of players and just hit the ball over the bar.
02:45 But again, I think it just goes to show that, you know, we were a threat, you know, a lot today for them.
02:51 And, you know, we tried to press them high up the pitch and win the ball back.
02:54 And that's what gave us the chance.
02:56 And obviously, you've been the better side of them at the 11 and then obviously they get the sending off the second yellow for the dive.
03:01 How do you think that sort of changes the game?
03:03 Yeah, do you know what? I think it took us a few minutes to adapt to what they were doing.
03:06 So I think at the time of the sending off, they then changed their formation a bit.
03:10 They went to a four at the back. I think they played a narrow three and left the two up top.
03:14 So I think that the changes that they made at the same time just brought that bit of freshness.
03:19 So it took us a few minutes to adapt.
03:21 And then when they got the goal, I think they were then happy to kind of run the game out to penalties.
03:26 And then they just dropped off a little bit and the game kind of evened itself out.
03:30 Did you also have to try to be careful not to put yourself in a position where it could be 10 v 10?
03:35 Yeah, exactly. So one of the things we said to the senior players, you know, when we had breaks in play,
03:40 was that, you know, don't give the referee or the officials any excuse to even it up.
03:46 You know, so, you know, I know that, you know, there's a few incidents that kind of kicked off and, you know,
03:51 some words were said, but, you know, we're trying to just emphasise to all the players, just, you know, walk away,
03:55 let the referee deal with it and not give the opportunity to even the game up.
04:01 And so you've taken a strong side to penalties and they're not seen.
04:04 A few good penalties, but they're not seen. You know, just the way it goes, isn't it?
04:07 Yeah, it's just the way it goes, you know, I think the problem with penalties is, you know, if you hit the target,
04:12 it's got a chance it goes in, you know, but credit to their goalie, guessed the right way on a couple of them
04:16 and he saved them and that was ultimately the difference.