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# Why Elmwood score so many late goals
- URL: https://pitch.ghostcms.templates.codememory.com/why-elmwood-score-so-many-late-goals/
- Published: 2026-08-11T17:30:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-08-11T17:30:00.000Z
- Description: Eleven of twenty-four goals after the 75th minute. The bench, the shape change and the fitness plan behind it.
- Author: Sofia Marín
- Tags: Analysis, #Import 2026-10-02 15:58

Last season, Elmwood scored more goals in the last fifteen minutes of games than any other team in the Northern League. Eleven of their twenty-four league goals came after the 75th minute. That is not luck, and it is not fitness alone. We spent a week looking at why.

![Elmwood's bench is the strongest in the league, and the manager uses all of it.](https://pitch.ghostcms.templates.codememory.com/content/images/2026/10/late-bench-1.jpg)

Elmwood's bench is the strongest in the league, and the manager uses all of it.

## The bench

The simplest answer is the substitutes. Elmwood's manager, Tomasz Wiśniewski, makes all five substitutions in almost every game, and he makes them early: on average, the first change comes at 58 minutes. His bench includes two strikers who would start for most teams in the league.

When those players come on, they face defenders who have already run ten kilometres. That is a big advantage, and Wiśniewski plans for it.

## The shape changes

The second answer is tactical. Elmwood start most games in a careful 4-4-2\. After an hour, they move to a 3-4-3, with a defender replaced by a forward and the full-backs pushed high. Opponents who have planned for one shape suddenly face another, with more players in the box.

| Period     | Elmwood shots per game | Goals |
| ---------- | ---------------------- | ----- |
| 0–30 min   | 3.1                    | 5     |
| 31–60 min  | 3.8                    | 8     |
| 61–75 min  | 2.6                    | 0     |
| 76–90+ min | 5.4                    | 11    |

The pause between 61 and 75 minutes is interesting: it is when the changes happen, and the team takes a few minutes to settle into the new shape.

## Fitness

The third answer is fitness. Elmwood's players run the most high-speed distance of any team in the last twenty minutes. Their fitness coach, a former athletics coach, has the team train in short, intense blocks rather than long runs.

> We do not train to last ninety minutes. We train to be the stronger team in the last twenty.  
>  
> **Tomasz Wiśniewski**

## The risk

There is a cost. Elmwood concede late too: six goals after the 75th minute, the most in the top half. When the shape opens, so do the gaps. The 4-0 win at Millbrook in April, with three goals in fifteen minutes, is the best example of the plan working. The 2-2 draw at Kingsbridge, where they conceded twice in stoppage time, shows the other side.

## The players who come on

The two substitutes who matter most are Nadia Kovač and Leo Barratt. Neither starts many games. Between them, they scored seven of the eleven late goals last season. Kovač is the fastest player in the league over thirty metres; Barratt is strong and good in the air. Wiśniewski uses them as a pair: one runs behind, the other holds the ball up.

"Some players hate the bench," Wiśniewski said in pre-season. "These two understand it. They know the game will be waiting for them."

- Kovač: four late goals, all from runs behind the defence.
- Barratt: three late goals, two of them headers from crosses.
- Other substitutes: two late goals.
- Players who started the game: two late goals.

## What opponents can do

Teams that have done well against Elmwood share one habit: they make their own changes early. If your fresh legs arrive at the same time as theirs, the advantage disappears.