What makes good sides, great? What makes teams full of potential and ability able to deliver under pressure on the big occasion? How do great sides deliver consistently time after time?

Three simple questions, fairly straight forward, No? Ask any team, in any sport, in any league for the answers and you may as well order a beer, because you could be in for a wait.

People talk about inches, others about thinking clearly under pressure, others still about controlling the inner monkey. Truth is, no one really knows, there is always a different theory and if we are talking truths and laying cards on the table, Servette probably have not quite found the answer yet, either. No shame in that, life, like sport is a learning experience, a work in progress, a master piece in the making.

Patience is required and an ability to pick oneself up deal with the blows and the setbacks and keep moving forward, one step at a time.

What is the old saying, if you fall, fall on your back, that way at least you can look up?

Well i write this article from flat on my back.

Again whilst we seem to be on the theme of honesty, despite huge disappointment of yet another final that slips away, another opportunity gone begging, there are most certainly far more positives to take from this weekend then negatives and we may be on our back but we certainly can see up to where we are going.

A weekend spent having to navigate Luzerner SC followed by Rotweiss Wettingen to win a Cup is never easy on paper, despite the results we have enjoyed in the league this season.

A difficult semi-final against hosts and cup holders awaited us on Saturday under slate grey skies and 9c, apparently spring has sprung, so to did Servette, in the first twenty minutes, goals from Benjamin and Christoph saw us lead 2-0 with several chances left unconverted Servette could have led 4-0 after 30 minutes. Lucerne however are never a side who down tools and roll over and a team full of quality can always get a foothold in a game. Small errors leave the score line at 2-1 at half time. What unfolded in the next thirty five minutes is probably not suitable viewing for the elderly or frail of heart, some even felt the need of age old stimulants to calm the nerves.

A bout of scoreboard Ping-Pong ensued with Luzerner SC equalising early in the second half and then taking the lead through a stroke, 3-2, instantly levelled by Loïc tipping in from close range 3-3. Luzerner SC strike back from another PC 4-3 seven minutes left to play, People start shuffling for the exit, but then a penalty converted by Matthieu, once more levelling the score at 4-4, four minutes left, and then 5-4 Servette, Cedric scoring from close range. People shuffle back to their places.

Hurdle number one had been negotiated the next step would be Rotweiss in the final, again another good start for Servette, coming out of the traps fast, seemingly a trademark and a 1-0 lead obtained after another goal from Benjamin who relished the entire weekend and who’s hunger, effort and desire when facing Rotweiss, can inspire and at times frustrate in equal measure.

Rotweiss however score both sides of half time to grab a 2-1 lead before a deflected short corner levels the score once more at 2-2. However straight from the restart Rotweiss spring forward at pace obtaining a short corner that is converted 3-2. That is eventually how the score will remain despite a handful of chances at the death for Servette.

Teams are often flooded with advice after tight games, the inner coach, manager, umpire or player coming out in everyone, everyone with an opinion, should have shot there, should have blown a foul here should have made a tackle there. Sport flashes by in an instant, opportunities appear and disappear in milliseconds and at times we ask the near on impossible of players, to go from hot skill to cold skill in an instant, to be a rampaging Spartan warrior one second to cold blooded executioner the next. Athletes spend hours honing this ability and those who truly master it are rare and feted. For the rest of us mere mortals all we are to do is study, analyse, learn and repeat, harness the experience use the defeat as motivation and move forward. Wins and losses will come and go but what counts is effort that is one thing Servette do have the answer to and as one esteemed Athlete once said if every time you step on the field you give 100% effort there will be more good days then bad.

So today we get up and we get back to work, study, analyse, learn and repeat and as for another loss in a cup final, well, how do diamonds become brilliant, never forget, you can’t shine like a diamond unless you are willing to get cut like a diamond.

Patrick Montalbetti