News Report

Coaches thoughts

Coach Cliff give his thoughts on a weekend of mixed results.

• admin
• 04 October 2023

Hi Chieftains fans,

It’s been a tough couple of days since Sunday, but we live and learn, and the only step we can take is a big one in a forward direction.

The weekend was certainly one of highs and lows, a great road win on Saturday in Slough which had so many positives to take from it, followed by what I hope will be the seasonal low point on Sunday which for many reasons was not acceptable.

On Saturday we knew we were up against it, Jordan got out of his sick bed to play and whilst I don’t think he was his usual self he did enough for us to get the win, it’s the first time this season I felt the offence really clicked, all 3 lines were buzzing and creating chances on what seemed like every shift, and we got our rewards when we exploded in the second period and chased the usually very impressive Brett Massey out of the net. We were still far from the finished product, but we got there.

On Sunday I don’t know what the issue was, it is my job to find out, but it’s now 2 Sundays in a row that we have come out and not looked ourselves. We knew from a week before how hard Romford would come at us, and we knew that it would be 100mph all night, however it seemed like we were shocked by this and let that take us not just a little bit off our plan, but a million miles away from it. Frustration leads to frustration, and that was evident within a number of areas, scoring goals, trying to force plays, officiating and others in-between.

It is easy to get frustrated with officials, I totally get it and I’m the same, however when you look at it at the end of a weekend or the end of a season it goes for you as often as it goes against you, it just doesn’t feel like that when you’re in the middle of it being against you, we have to mature as a group and focus on the controllables, and nothing else.  

We have a lot to learn as a group, but the main one is that when we reach our required standards (which we have a few times already this year) that is the norm, not the exception. I’m not promising we will never lose again, I’m not promising we will never lose to Romford again, but what I am promising is that a defeat in the manner that it happened won’t happen again.

This weekend will be tough, we know all about Slough, who following a loss to us went and beat Invicta in their own building on Sunday, but before that a trip to without doubt the toughest rink in the league to play in. We need to come up with a plan on how to try and get a result in there and then worry about the threats we know all about when we return home on Sunday.

Thanks for reading and your continued support.

See you round the rink,

Cliff.