A poor 2-3 result against Fleetwood in the Premier League Cup this evening and, sadly, we didn’t perform to the heights of Monday.
The portents looked good. We selected a decent looking starting XI and a very strong set of substitutes.
The opening minutes were encouraging. Morgan Bates had a point blank shot instinctively saved by Fleetwood’s keeper and had another effort headed over the bar shortly after. We were moving the ball around confidently, patiently looking for openings. We eventually went ahead on 21 minutes when Sammy Henia-Kamau finished a Ben Lloyd pass with a potshot that found the corner of the Fleetwood net.
These initial signs were misleading, though. Fleetwood probed our soft underbelly, getting in behind our defence by exploiting gaps on both flanks. Devonport’s deft header got them level on 35 minutes. His partner Wilkinson put them ahead before half-time with our defence at 6s and 7s. Fleetwood’s trialist striker got a 3rd when we didn’t deal with a free kick just after half-time.
Coach Anthony Wright made sweeping changes, with Aimar Govea, Glory Nzingo and Kyrell Wilson all being introduced just before the hour. We switched to 4 3 3, which better suited the personnel on the pitch. This galvanised us, we looked more energetic, although we still struggled to create much in the way of clear chances against a resilient visiting defence.
Josh Pescatore joined the action as we applied even greater attacking intent.
Although there was a hint of offside when he received the ball, there was no doubting the quality of Glory Nzingo’s long range finish to get us back to 2-3 with 20 minutes to play. Kyrell Wilson went very close to equalising soon after and Aimar Govea had a shot bundled off the line in added time, but Fleetwood held firm for a deserved away cup victory.
Too many of our players didn’t rise to their usual standards tonight and we were perhaps a little slow to change things that weren’t working. Jacob Cook and Seb Dabrowski were among our better performers. Another learning lesson overall, though.
We started 3 5 2: Evan Watts; Iestyn Jones, Arthur Parker, Richard Faakye; Zac Jeanes (s – Aimar Govea 58m), Jacob Cook (s – Josh Pescatore 70m), Mitchell Bates (captain), Ben Lloyd, Seb Dabrowski; Sammy Henia-Kamau (s – Glory Nzingo 58m), Morgan Bates (s – Kyrell Wilson 58m).
Unused sub: Ben Hughes.
