| Match Report |
Caradon were up against a much changed Duchy side who were beaten 4-0 by Caradon earlier in the season. It therefore came as no surprise that this was a much closer match with both teams playing some skillful hockey and it ultimately came down to who made the best use of their short corners in deciding the outcome of this match as Caradon scored 2 out of 4 whilst Duchy failed with 4 out of 4. Caradon's opener came after 15 minutes of end to end hockey when they forced their first short corner. Capain David Lockett's strike was not his best but the effect of topping the ball made life hard for the outcoming defender who proceeded to edge the ball over the diving keeper. Caradon doubled their lead 5 minutes later as Lockett surged into the D but just as he was about to shoot on goal a defender managed to deflect the ball away however it went straight to William Turpin who gleefully fired home. With 9 of the team 16 or under this was probably the youngest team fielded by Caradon and youngsters put in a shift throughout to break up the Duchy attacking intent but with 5 minutes to go to half time Duchy managed to get one back as a shot from a tight angle took an unfortunate deflection off Ian Harris's foot to wrong foot keeper Toby Riddle. In the second half Caradon continued to maintain the work rate and although Duchy created a number of good chances they were unable to beat Riddle in goal. Halfway through the second half Caradon forced their 4th short corner and this time Lockett got everything on the ball and another defenders stick deflected it high into the goal. Forwards Ben Stacey, Thomas Rowe and Oliver Hedges were doing a fantastic job acting as the first line of defence and it looked like Duchy were running out of ideas as they started to try and fire longer balls into the Caradon D. However with 5 minutes remaining they managed to set up a tense finish by pulling another goal back as Riddle could only get part of his hand on the ball and deflect it into the goal. Caradon stood firm for the final few minutes, help by a Duchy player getting a second green card for swearing, and prevented Duchy getting another shot on target to run out 3-2 winners of a highly entertaining game. William Turpin picked up his 3rd Man of the Match award of the season for a strong display at centre half whilst Liam Champion was awarded the Muppet of the match award for trying to kick the ball into the goal. Next Sunday Caradon are in action in the Cup against higher division Bodmin A with a place in the Plate Semi Final at stake.
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