WILLINGTON UNDER-15s' players have spent this week licking their wounds and trying to shake off the crippling virus that contributed to "our worst performance in three years".

After the euphoria of our 7-1 League Cup win seven days earlier, last Sunday we coughed, spluttered and hobbled our way to a chastening 5-0 defeat to Redby.

We didn't play well, but my selection dilemma certainly exacerbated our problems.

One midfielder, Joe Fairish, was clearly unwell but wanted to play. After 30 minutes and with us 3-0 down, I took him off and he returned to his sickbed.

I had three substitutes at my disposal. One was so ill that he watched the first half and immediately headed home.

Another, Chris Hopps, was so poorly that just five minutes after the kick-off he asked me if I could drive him home.

I couldn't, and bravely he came off the bench with 20 minutes remaining.

Ten minutes later, clearly unable to continue, he walked off the pitch - and immediately vomited.

The ten players that saw out the match fared little better. Ryan Young showed real mettle to play the entire second half with a bad ankle injury.

Alongside him in central midfield, Adam Comby defied a bang on the head to keep battling long after everyone had given up the match as a lost cause.

Redby played well, but we gave them far too much time and space. Really, they ought to have won by many more than five goals.

That they didn't was down to a combination of good luck, good goalkeeping by Chris Marriott and a couple of goal-line clearances by captain Michael Stothard.

Willington's tall centre-back Adam Simpson was also excellent, at times the only barrier that stood between Redby and a landslide victory.

I learned much about my players during the defeat - some showed character; others went missing when the going got tough.

Our post-mortem wasn't pleasant - that was when someone said the team hadn't played that badly for three years.

But at least a few people got a few things off their chest - and we can for the time being at least write the result off as a blip.

WHEN Hylton Redhouse asked if we wished to play them this Sunday as like ourselves they have a blank weekend, I politely turned down the invitation.

A week off will do us the power of good, if only to enable our ailing players to recover from the dreaded lurgy.

At least we have a third round League Cup tie to look forward to. Win that, and we'll be in the quarter-finals.

Where, would you believe, we're likely to play Redby...

CONGRATULATIONS to Stan Cummins and Lee Crosby, both of whom are now UEFA B Licenced coaches.

They passed their final assessments last Thursday after I played a small yet significant part in their coaching sessions.

More importantly, for me at least, I got through an arduous week unscathed except for stiff limbs and a few bruises.

I was certainly more fortunate than one would-be coach, who lost a contact lens when a shot ricocheted off a goalpost and into his face.

I feel more confident as a coach thanks to my hectic week at the Riverside - let's hope my newly-gained experience can help extricate Willington from the Redby-inflicted mess.