Base of the Pyramid
  • Home
    • About
  • Blog
  • Hops, Stats & More
    • Ground Hops
    • Match Details
    • All Time Hop Stats
    • Teams
    • Guest Blogs
  • SRWFL
    • SRWFL Archive
    • SRWFL Match Blogs
    • SRWFL Team Directory
    • SRWFL SoReg Review

Game Management

8/8/2018

1 Comment

 
PictureHamilton Park Clubhouse
Heading up the M1 on Tuesday evening it occurred to me that I was on my way to watch Leicester Nirvana for the fifth time. However, this would be my first visit to their home ground, Hamilton Park. Much like my record with Kidlington, I have never seen Nirvana lose, either in the Leicester or Thurnby guise. In fact, their record to date when I have seen them is played four, won four. The previous games were:

Sileby Rangers 3 Thurnby Nirvana 4 (Still one of the best games of football I have ever seen)
Desborough Town 2 Leicester Nirvana 4
Rothwell Corinthians 1 Leicester Nirvana 3
Kirby Muxloe 0 Leicester Nirvana 3
​
I have only seen Rugby play once since starting this blog (although I saw VS Rugby play at Stourbridge a few times many years ago), a 1-0 home defeat to Daventry in Step 4. Interestingly, both of these sides have slipped down the pyramid since then, both finding themselves in the United Counties Premier Division this season.

PictureRugby Flags & Banners
​Hamilton Park, Nirvana's home, is a newly fenced off facility with a recently built clubhouse. Fencing is tall but you could still watch from outside if you wanted to. Two covered areas, both to the right of the entrance and clubhouse. One seating area, one standing. Dugouts are opposite. Note for hoppers. Parking is very limited at the ground. there is a small overflow car park but this was already full at least 40 minutes before kick-off. So, get there early if you want to park nearby.

There were plenty of Valley supporters milling around when I arrived and they had already put their flags and banners up at the far end of the ground. The biggest topic of discussion in the bar seemed to be their position as favourites for the league. The majority of supporters seemed to think that it was nowhere near as clear-cut as that  and that they would need to work very hard to achieve promotion. "We are in Step 5 for a reason" was the general consensus.

In quite blustery conditions, Rugby opened the quicker and certainly looked the sharper side in the first 10-15 minutes.The game burst into life on 12 minutes when Rugby came very close to opening the scoring. A neat move saw Blythe burst into the box but Chey Carter was very quick to spread himself and block the effort. Within two minutes, Nirvana had a similar opportunity but Hill proved himself as adept as his counterpart, saving very smartly. Nirvana then had a free-kick on the edge of the area which Savjani put just over the Rugby bar

PictureThe Obsidian Stand
​After 19 minutes, Valley had the ball in the home net when a long throw was flicked on and found its way into the net. However, a hand was used on the way and the assistant's flag was raised almost immediately. Still 0-0.

On 21 minutes Nirvana taok the lead in somewhat controversial circumstances. A quite clear Nirvana push in midfield went unpunished and the home side took advantage of the Rugby players stopping to appeal by breaking down their left flank. Suleman Nassor showed good awareness to slide over a very tempting cross and  Jordan Nelson was on hand at the near post to force the ball home. 1-0

The goal changed the game completely. The belief seemed to drain from Rugby and Nirvana's tails were up. They were the team playing all of the football. It has to be said that Leicester managed the game very well from this point onwards. Some would say gamesmanship, I would say game management. They had clearly spotted that the referee didn't have full control over the game. I don't like to criticise officials, but this game needed a strong man in the middle. It didn't have one.

Nirvana can certainly play good football. They can also mix it when they need to. Rugby allowed themselves to be drawn into a toe-to-toe battle with Nirvana. They allowed Nirvana's tactics of taking their time with every dead ball to get under their skin. It was a battle that they never looked like winning.
Leicester just had too much nous for them, as well as, on the day, being the better football team. 

Rugby did have a penalty claim when Rankin and Carter collided in the area, but it was waved away by the referee and, on this occasion, it looked like he got that decision spot on.

HT Leicester Nirvana 1 Rugby Town 0. A very stop-start game punctuated by plenty of niggles and fouls. The referee needs to get a grip on the game. A red card is looking almost nailed on in the second-half if he continues to frustrate the players with inconsistent decisions.

PictureHamilton Park

​Valley started the second half with a clear intention to get back into the game as quickly as possible. Nirvana seemed quite happy to let them come onto them, relying on their pace up front to pose a threat whenever a Rugby attack broke down. The Nirvana back-line was coping well with everything that Rugby threw at them, although long balls down the middle aren't going to trouble that many defences too much. 

An increasing number of flare-ups and stoppages didn't help Rugby find any fluency either. Again, I put this down to Nirvana managing the game better and having more experience than their visitors. They knew that they had their opponents rattled and they took complete advantage of it.

With 16 minutes of the 90 remaining and with Rugby pressing forward, Nirvana hit them on the break down the right flank. This time it is Nassor who is on the end of a low cross, leaving him the simple task of tapping into an empty net. 2-0 and no way back for Rugby now.

FT Leicester Nirvana 2 Rugby Town 0. An untidy game but a well earned three points for Nirvana. The most amazing statistic is that we still had 22 players on the pitch at the end.
Nirvana are a good side and, on this evidence, could be contenders this season. However, they will need to ensure that they keep their discipline. They have some very talented individuals but are far too ready to get involved in a physical confrontation. If they stick to playing football, they could play a lot of teams off the park in this league.
For me, Rugby seemed to find their title favourites tag weighing heavily on their shoulders. Once they went 1-0 down, they never really looked like getting back into the game. However, it's not easy to tell from one game. They looked pretty good for the first 20 minutes but allowed themselves to be distracted from the game, as well as being frustrated by the officials decisions. 

Leicester Nirvana: Carter, Gore, Bahrey, Calver, Harper, Bains, Gonga, Savjani, Nassor, Nelson, Master. Subs: Mudhur, De Lacerda, Brown-Wingfield, Glover
Rugby Town: Hill, Rosser, Thomas, Edwards, Recci, Perkins, Rankin, Bunting, Adams, Johnson, Blythe. Subs: Evans, Holloway, Kavanagh, Blake, Marsden

Att: 112
Ground Number: 160
Entrance: £5.00
Programme: £1.00
1 Comment
cheats for simcity link
29/8/2018 12:16:52

Can I just say what a relief to find someone who actually knows what theyre talking about on the internet. You definitely know how to bring an issue to light and make it important. More people need to read this and understand this side of the story. I cant believe youre not more popular because you definitely have the gift

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Archives

    May 2025
    April 2025
    March 2025
    February 2025
    January 2025
    December 2024
    November 2024
    October 2024
    September 2024
    August 2024
    July 2024
    June 2024
    May 2024
    April 2024
    March 2024
    February 2024
    January 2024
    December 2023
    November 2023
    October 2023
    September 2023
    August 2023
    July 2023
    June 2023
    May 2023
    April 2023
    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    May 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    October 2012

    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly