Nate's Scoring. Wipes the floor with his keeping. IUE 4-2 Speranza

Tuesday, 20th November 2007. Scorers: Dave H, Nate 2, Irial

Every so often when I get bored I check out who has been visiting this website. As you would expect most visits are from Florence and round about, and then there visits every so often from places around Europe: England, France, Germany... Oldboys checking up on our fortunes. Some are from even further afield. Brazil, Australia, India, China, Russia. However, a while ago we started getting regular hits from numerous American states, in particular East Coast ones. Nate has obviously been telling his frat boy buddies that he is playing Soccer in Europe. Hi frat buddies. Nate would obviously love to think they were reading about his downward header after a great move and a beautiful cross from the left to put us 2-1 up, or his belter of a drive from the edge of the box that sealed our win after giving the keeper no chance. Well, I think it would be better to concentrate on his two missed chances when he was through on goal after he first came on. Rubbish, Nate! You have shamed your fraternity.

Also, Charles in goal (in for Nate, as it happens), okay, you may be playing in goal for the first time, and you might have made two phenomenal saves, but how did you fail to stop that perfectly placed penalty of theirs? And why didn't you save their second goal? Don't think being kicked in the head is an excuse! Nice hat though. A cross between Buffon and Bob Marley.

Okay, finally a win, after so many heroic failures over the past weeks. We went 1-0 down to a penalty, but held our nerve, were patient, came to dominate the game and eventually pulled clear to secure the win. We should be pleased with our resolve, but I actually think, apart from 10 minutes at the end of the first half and the first twenty minutes of the second half, we were not particularly outstanding yesterday, gifted a couple of chances to a not particularly good side, and struggled to get into our rhythm for much of the game.

We started with Dave H back in the midfield, withe the same compact 4, with me on the left and Leo on the right, with Dave M back in the heart of defence, and Irial back up front. The idea, against our slow and static opposition was to play expansive attacking football and use the space that their deep defence should have given us. Having tighter wingers meant space for Dom and Mark on the wings, which they made good use of, and they were often our outlets on the overlap. We struggled to really make the most of the space or the ball though, with lots of misplaced passes and failure to make the right runs and really push onto their sweeper. They got in behind us twice, missed a good chance and then got a penalty after the ball hit Mark's arm. Okay, not deliberate, but most refs would give it. God pen. 1-0 down.

We are dominant but not brilliant. Triangles break down because of lack of concentration and the lack of runs. We get caught with the ball in our feet a lot, and we look reluctant to play expansively. We need to be more ambitious. To prove the point, Luis and Dave H combine brilliantly to put Davie through, who shimmies past the keeper and slots home. Great goal.

1-1 at half time. Main ideas: Exploit the spaces better. This requires Nate's energy and explosiveness. Luis and Dave are told to be more ambitious and aggressive with their passing, and Dom and Mark have to think of themselves as wide playmakers, with all their great running and the space they are finding. We look much more cohesive in the second half. Nate's impact is superb, with us now stretching our play the length of the pitch. Irial pushes further up and the ball skids around with purpose. We have a series of excellent moves, and chances are missed, but the goal is clearly coming. Leo has to come off with an injury, and Mate comes on and gives us more width on that side. We throw caution to the wind slightly, as Speranza are looking cotti, Irial moves into midfield and Dave H to leftwing, with David BS coming on upfront. Nate grabs a great header after a beautiful beautiful cross from the left, and a great move before that. Irial gets a similar one and then Nate smashes in our fourth. Johnny and Simon come on for spells up front and both show great touches. Soon to be a Daddy Will makes his Debut at rightback. We lose shape and discipline, and the last three or four minutes are like a playground basketball match with lots of random attacking play from both teams. They get one back after what seemed a pretty clearcut foul on Charles. We get in behind twice but both times hesitate. Simon has a couple of minutes of genius, and a supreme pantomime moment of falling on his arse when through. They have a penalty shout and Charles makes a good save, but this was already well into injury time.

Always good to win, especially against this team, with whom we (and I would guess all the teams in Florence) have built up a antagonism. Their antics round the ref at the end were slightly disturbing, if a little comical. Best ref in the league by the way - same as last week.

We should not let this good and deserved win obfuscate our frailties though: lack of movement and bad passes in the first half, a lack of communication at times, and a lack of composure at others. Some great aspects though: A brilliant back line: Well done all involved: Dave, Andrew, Dom, Mark, and then Mate and Will, in particular Mate who looked a class act when he came on and changed position three times but looked good in every one.

Well done Nate. Well done Charles. Well done IUE.