| Match Report |
Match report - SNHC 3’s vs Belper 8’s
Captain Stuart “Grozzy” Croston - Reporting.
A particularly fresh and blustery day saw South welcome Belper 8’s to Bingham for the match that should secure a top 3 position in the league as “Best of the Rest” behind the 2 Uni teams with a win.
The start was delayed due to Belper’s skipper and a couple of their star players being delayed in Nottinghamshire traffic..
The game got underway 10 mins late with a typically aggressive South earning a penalty corner within a few minutes, a crisp injection from Ellz saw Sharpie go on a mazy run into the D, but his shot hit a Belper foot. From the reload Grozzy smashed a drive low and hard into the bottom corner. 1-0
South continued to dominate thanks to Belper being unable to get through the midfield wall of Sharpie, Toby, Kai & Alex J.
The next goal came courtesy of Ellz intercepting a Belper 16 hit and sliding a through ball to Grozzy at the top of the D who powerfully slapped the ball between the Keepers legs. 2-0
South piled on the pressure and after a few chances came and went, Ellz bagged a goal from a goalmouth melee, slotting in on the reverse from close range. 3-0
A rare Belper foray into the South half caught the defensive unit of Batty, Knappett, Bingo & Roey by surprise and an unfortunate series of events saw a young Belper player fire past Simon R to pull one back for the visitors. 3-1
Sub Josh Lawes joined the fun to help South regain control, a sweet pass to Grozzy in the D saw the skipper pop the ball into a Belper foot to win another shortie.. A poor power flick from Grozzy was easily saved by the keeper, but the rebound went straight to Batty who calmly slotted home to make it 4-1 on the stroke of half time.
A fairly animated team talk from the captain urged the team to cut out silly mistakes, spread the play, use the space and show more composure on the ball and when passing.
These words seemed to have the opposite effect as South conceded two goals in quick succession and saw the reenergised opposition pull back to 4-3.
Needless to say the skipper’s mood wasn’t particularly joyous following this, so took matters into his own hands by driving into the D from a great through ball, drawing the keeper and setting up Alex at the back post. 5-3
This seemed to give Belper another kick up the butt and saw them attack the South goal again - this time their main midfield threat who had scored earlier tried to show more silky skills by dropping his shoulder and turning neatly, however, as he drove forward, head down, his nose met the top of Knappett’s head which sent him to the floor like Deyontay Wilder on the end of Tyson Fury’s best haymaker.. Broken nose for his troubles. The umpires blew for an injury stoppage as South had broken and were entering the opponent’s D..
The resulting South free hit was broken down by Belper, but their attack was also broken down by the ever present Batty, he fed Alex on the 25 who returned the earlier favour for Grozzy to deflect past the prone keeper 6-3.
This effectively killed the game off as a competition and Belper’s heads dropped. South kept their foot on the gas and a drive down the right wing to the byline saw Alex pull back for Grozzy to slap home firmly from the centre of the D. 7-3.
More pressure saw Belper concede the final goal when Ellz shot/cross was turned in again by you-know-who for his 5th of the game and his 45th of the season..
Final score 8-3.
Many thanks to Andy W & Mark W for officiating in such chilly weather!
Onwards to Nottm Uni next week for more fun and games!
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