Defence delights Scott

Patrick Corlett • Published 11 Dec 2009 15:00 0 Comments

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Football

TITLE winning sides are built on solid platforms and that is exactly what Windsor & Eton have at the moment.

In the top of the table clash with AFC Totton, the Royalists won by a single goal on Saturday and kept their fourth cleansheet in a row and their eighth of the league campaign which sees them remain unbeaten and six points clear of Totton who have two games in hand.

It also brought to an end the 11 game winning streak of the Stags so it will be interesting to see how they respond.

"I've always said that if you look at any league in the world you don't win the league by scoring 95 goals and conceding 86," said manager Keith Scott. "Generally teams are solid.

"It's a fantastic result for us, they've got two games in hand but it eradicates that, now they've got to win them, now they are under pressure.

"I'm excited, I'm so excited, however, this result proves nothing. There is still a long, long way to go in this season and a lot of points to be won and lost.

"Totton are a strong outfit and come the end of the season I expect them to be there as I do Gosport, Paulton, Cirencester and someone to come out of the pack, maybe a Bridgwater or a Frome who are on a great run as well.

"What we've done today is we've won nothing, we've won a game - it's a great win but we've won nothing although it's a nice position to be in."

Windsor played with just three at the back, opting for a 3-4-3 formation against Totton with Ryan Parsons, Steve Butler and especially Andrew Fagan magnificent.

The boss was happy that his gamble paid off, he remarked: "I went with a three today because I felt we could cause them problems up front that way but normally the back four or back five have been fantastic and they have been awesome again today.

"Taylor is a good player, everything goes through him, he looks after it well and brings people into play but I felt we dealt with him exceptionally well today.

"Sometimes you have got to forget about performances and you've got to put in a performance that is going to win you the game. I felt today that system against Totton as a 3-4-3 was going to win us the game.

"They were worried about Victor (Osobu), worried about Michael (Chennells) and Gavin (Smith) held the ball up well like Marcus (Richardson) did when he came on.

"I just felt that front three caused their backline a lot of problems by the fact that they were there and anything over the top would cause them problems because it was very obvious to see that whenever Victor and Michael got the ball they doubled up on them very quickly because they were worried about them.

"Steve played in the middle but you've got Andrew and Ryan Parsons either side and you're not going to find too many quicker forwards than they are.

"Andrew is deceptively quick, he is a very, very athletic player.

"We knew Taylor was good but didn't have any real pace to trouble us, we knew Nathan Jack was quick but it was effectively three of them to deal with two. It was just important from a midfield point-of-view that our four dealt with their four.

"I knew up top we would cause them problems. As a manager you are vindicated in your selection and the changes you make if you win.

"We can play 3-4-3, 4-3-3, 4-4-2 - that's what makes us a better side this season, we are not one dimensional. I've got players who can play in a variety of different systems who we can take out or put in.

"Obviously the players that don't play are disappointed but they've got to accept that next week Bracknell, it will be different again."

This article appeared in Royal Borough Observer 11 Dec 09

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