13th May 2012- Ripon Reds 3-3 Walton-Le-Dale Blue

16^th May 2012 – Ripon Reds 1-4 Bamber Bridge

A couple of end of season friendly fixtures against two talented sides were a good excuse to keep the lads fit until the end of May and to ready them for an end of season tournament next week.

The games were purposely selected to put us up against two strong progressive sides with proactive coaches that have played us both at the start of the season and midway through the season. Benchmark teams if you like….

Also, for rotational purposes just to give me a look at what we need going forward into next season, as we have already shown that we really need to be playing against sides of this quality on a more regular basis.

We looked more balanced with Ben at left back and Oliver at right back which releases Connor in a more advanced role in search of possession. However, we did concede late goals in both games, having gone in front in both and we were a little wasteful after carving out good opportunities, (you’d think we’d have a walk the ball over the line policy at times). The final score against Bamber Bridge was a little more down to misfortune as our brave Keeper- Cameron came off hurt and we just lost our focus in the business end of the game. I always take full responsibility and reflect upon performances as I am aware that I do throw a lot of rotational obstacles in front of our boys (Sometimes, clearly too many). It has paid off more often than not throughout a great first season. I always try to utilise as many of the lads as I possibly can in different roles to develop sides to their game. Long term, it will produce more depth moving forward as I foresee that we shall become even stronger next season.

I would like to thank Walton-Le-Dale and Bamber Bridge respectively as they’ve always given us real tests throughout our first season and play football the right way. The matches are always of high energy and quality, always providing food for thought!

Team red welcome Alex who scored on his debut!!!!