| Match Report |
Match Report:
The Mighty 3rds lined up to face Derwent 5s at Bingham in our return home fixture - the previous one ending in a 2:0 away win for us.
South started really well, winning most 50/50 balls and pinging accurate passes to each other. Most of the opposition attacks fizzled out with Arthur picking the ball well and not just passing it anywhere but selecting when, and to whom, it should be distributed. Our defence were well organised and snuffed-out any threat to our goal.
The first 20 minutes it was all South with the strong defence of Tony, Graham Knappett and Dick holding firm.
Some neat passing saw the ball into Derwent's half of the pitch and South's attackers took over and a crisp pass from "The Rock" Wallace to Paul resulted in a firm strike into their goal. 1:0 South.
Unfortunately our organisation suffered after the goal and we made too many wayward or late passes which were pounced on which allowed Derwent to put one past our keeper Mark, who made few errors and gave us confidence knowing he was between the sticks.
One of Derwent's players was given a well deserved enforced sit-down as the half time whistle came. This had to be made good at the start of the second half.
The team talk at half time showed we are really a gelled team and able to discuss both the positives and less positives - there was glaring similarity between the comments made by several of the more experienced payers - make the easy pass; pass the ball early; pass the ball accurately.
Into the second half of the game and South took control again with Rhys intercepting and Fin and taking the ball forward in many waves to release it to Paul to shoot.
Again, The Rock made many hard strikes into the D for our attackers to get onto. Duffy became inclined to drift up front which gave many opportunities for conversion with Rhys missing the goal by centimetres with an almost precisely placed (or so he says) shot.
Hamza stole the ball from the opposition on many occasions during the game and used this to drive several more attacks. James was running his socks off (yes running!) and taking the ball into the oppo's D on many occasions and was unlucky not to convert a couple of chances. About 10 minutes before the end, South won a penalty corner and James took control of the injection.
Here it comes!! - Superlatives Use Restricted!!
James accurately injected the ball to Ken poised at the top of the D in an identical way as practised before the game. The ball was stopped as planned and Ken struck one of the crispest strikes of his 50 year hockey career and the ball all but destroyed the backboard! 2:1 South.
South regained dominance despite several forays into our D by Derwent which were dealt with by our skilful defenders.
There was obvious tension in the last minutes of the game as South did not want to concede this victory which was ours for the taking.
Final whistle! A great win for South's Mighty 3s!!
Thanks to Willey and Hazza Lane for umpiring
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