Report:
Although there was no doubt that Kings were the better team on the
day, we were left feeling that had the luck gone our way rather than
theirs, then the result could have been much closer. We didn't really do
ourselves justice.A bit of confusion at the beginning as we realised
that our umpire hadn't turned up (where were you Matt?) but Captain Phil
- straight off the plane after a 10 hour flight from Chinnai - was able
to step in. I think everyone could see from my decisions (or lack of
them) that I was still in a different time zone. Anyway, many thanks to
Clare George for taking over at half time - a proper umpire!
We looked very good in the first 20 minutes. Our attacks up the left
hand side were particularly telling, with some great triangles created
by the Mayes brothers and Tom Curtis. We had some good chances in this
time. The last 15 minutes were less good, with them pinning us into our
25. We just couldn't fid our own men from clearances, and it was obvious
that they were looking to play the ball to our feet in our D to get easy
penalty corners. They scored one soft goal and then a defensive
misunderstanding just before half time gifted them another.
Mark Linzey was really up for this game and played exceptionality
well throughout, finding a surprising level of fitness that he has done
well to disguise up to now. A rousing half time talk and we were out of
the traps quickly creating a penalty flick from a Dan Bishop short
corner hit. A chance to go 2-1 and come back at them.
Unfortunately the flick was saved. This really took the wind out of
our sails and jolted them to a new level. However, we continued to push
forward seeking a goal to get us back in it. Mark was finding most of
the space and making most of the incisive passing movements, urging the
team on. However the forward line were struggling to get free of their
markers, and Richard Carver was also being quickly closed down, forcing
a few errors, which is something we are not used to seeing at all.
Unfortunately the breakthrough when it came (about 20 minutes in) was
theirs. A shot (which I'm told was going high and wide) hit my trailing
foot and their umpire decided to give a penalty from which they scored.
At 3 nil down there was no way back for us, and although we scored a
consolation goal, they scored two more and that was it.
This was no disgrace (Kings have only dropped 2 points and probably
had another gear themselves) but I would have liked us to have played
better than this. We have the opportunity to redeem ourselves next week
away to Marden. |