GARY FREEMAN felt his players needed to play the ball quicker and use the full width of the pitch as Jersey Bulls promotion hopes took a knock with a 1-1 home draw against Raynes Park Vale.
Bulls’ goal came from the penalty spot in the 77th minute, scored by Luke Campbell after Lorne Bickley was brought down.
Raynes Park stunned the home crowd when they took the lead earlier on in the second half, after the league’s top scorer, Jordan Gallagher nodded the ball past Euan van der Vliet.
The visitors made it tough for the home side, crowding out the midfield and disrupting any meaningful flow when the slightly off-colour Bulls were in possession.
‘They were what I expected them to be,’ said Freeman of his opponents. ‘They were well organised, compact and made it difficult. They are an experienced team who do the basics well. It became a little bit of a battle and we asked at half-time, “Can we spread the play wider? Can we get it to Sol [Solomon] and Fraser [Barlow] more on the touchline and open up their midfield a bit more?”
‘We need to get in areas where we can create space and create overloads in wide areas. We’ve got to pull these teams around somehow and move the ball a little quicker.
‘In the first half we did struggle to link back to front,’ Freeman added. ‘A lot of the gaps were too big and we ended up reacting to them a bit more than we would want to normally.
Bulls have only dropped points in six of their 24 league games, losing one and drawing five (three of which have come at home), and remain in a strong position in their push to win the Combined Counties Premier Division South title. However, Freeman appreciates that there are many more tough games to come.
‘The higher level you play that teams are more organised, make life difficult and can counteract a lot of your strengths. That’s things we’ve got to learn from and look at different ways to manage it.’
Freeman added. ‘A lot of the gaps were too big and we ended up reacting to them a bit more than we would want to normally.
Bulls have only dropped points in six of their 24 league games, losing one and drawing five (three of which have come at home), and remain in a strong position in their push to win the Combined Counties Premier Division South title.
However, Freeman appreciates that there are many more tough games to come.
‘The higher level you play at the teams are more organised, make life difficult and can counteract a lot of your strengths. That’s things we’ve got to learn from and look at different ways to manage it.’
