| Match Report |
The Men's 2's travelled to Truro today to play their 5's. We hoped for a fairly straightforward match and thanks to some excellent interplay it turned out to be just that. A 7-0 victory was just what we needed to give us a well needed confidence boost. We had dream start with Martyn Bevins converting a penalty corner. Bevins added a second shortly afterwards which was served up to him on a plate by Sam P-R who skinned his defender on the wing and drove for the baseline before dribbling up to the post and passing it back, which helped to settle everyone. Our defensive line of James, Glen Carl and Garry were rock solid and for the majority of the match opposition attacks were thwarted before they became dangerous. Joel Tamblyn in goal had a pretty quiet match with little to do other than strut around in an intimidating manner making it clear that no attack would be successful! MIke Parkinson added a third goal with a reverse sweep which slid past the keeper. Ben P-R then scored a fantastic top bins goal which was mysteriously not awarded due to and unknown infringement. 3-0 at half time and a stirring team talk especially from Carl Jeffery firmly but positively highlighted our strengths and our weaknesses. The second half was a little mixed in terms of play with moments of brilliance that involved the whole team with sharp accurate pass and move assaults. Freddie Seeva was often in the right place at the time linking well with others to engineer great attacking moves. Toby Pickering and Isaac North handled themselves well under pressure. The 4th goal came when Bevins shot at goal and despite yelling 'leave it!' Ben P-R tapped it in - just to make sure. Not to worry though Bevins soon added his third our 5th. Centre midfields Mike Parkinson and Ben P-R helped to control the game when supplied with great ball from the defence consistently building moves and frustrating the Truro centres and defence. Several of the 50-50 decisions went against us most notably when Bevins received a green card for literally tapping another player's stick and then seconds later Freddie Seeva was scythed down by two defenders resulting in..... a free hit. We decided that clearly this was the way that things were going to go and that our hockey had to do the talking and our play needed to be clean, sharp and always open so that there was no doubt about the outcome. This we did and I am really happy to say that everyone in the team kept their composure and talking back to either the umpires or other players was virtually nil. Our sixth goal happened when Jon P-R came onto the pitch for the last 5 minutes (taking rather longer than this to strap himself up) he was sent clear into the D by Ben and then smashed a tomahawk shot into the back of the net. Ben P-R finished up the scoring with a final minute dive tapping the ball past a bewildered keeper who said 'How the hell did that go in?' DOtD was shared today by Ben, Martyn and Sam for various infringements. James North was MotM for his sublime defensive skills making many of the Truro attacks look weak - he was fantastic taday! I am very pleased with this result today but am even more pleased with the way that the team conducted themselves winners in the match and winners in conduct! So pleased guys well done.
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