| Match Report |
The Men's 2's welcomed CSoM 1's at Lux Park. It was a fantastic match against a very strong opposition who are currently in 3rd place in the League above us. We knew that it was going to be tough and played a great match to keep ourselves in contention. We only lost the match in the final quarter. The final score was 5-3 to CSoM but this does not tell the full story. Right from the first whistle it was very evenly matched with first blood going to Caradon when Ben P-R smashed a trademark tomahawk past the keeper's head. This shocked our opposition and they realised that they had a game on. CSoM drew level shortly afterwards with a well worked goal coming from quick determined play utilising the full width of the pitch. CSoM went ahead towards the end of the half making it 2-1 to them at half-time. During half time we had a rousing team talk and realised that we were going to have to play an even better standard of hockey in order to stay in contention. Several players stepped up to the plate with Drew and Liam Champion piling on the pressure and Tom Turpin playing his best game so far for Caradon, consistently thwarting determined attacks. Jake Horton also played brilliantly matching the opposition for speed, skill and aggression. Our equalizer came from a passage of excellent solo skilll from Martyn Bevins dribbling past several players before selflessly slipping the ball to Ben P-R in front of goal for a tricky reverse stick finish 2-2. Shortly after this Ben P-R struck again with another unstoppable tomahawk leaving the opposition stunned and earning himself player of the match. Sadly instead of rolling over at this point CSoM came back with renewed determination first bringing themselves level and then scoring 2 goals in quick succession as we tired and their speed and skill took its toll. Kudos to Toby Riddle for some great saves including a superb full stretch stick clearance off the line. The whole team gelled well and never gave up, with each player aquitting himself well. This game really showed us that we can play against superior opposition and not be outclassed and hopefully will stand us in good stead for the remainder of the season and for next season as well. A brilliant performance guys - very well done. Thanks to Katie and Poady for keeping everything under control and umpiring superbly.
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