Croydon Korfball Club

Croydon 1 take their eyes off the ball and lose out to Bec 3

Croydon 1 started with Grace Stimpson, Hannah Hale, Dan Pratt and Zak Omar (c) in attack, whilst Vernon Ellis, Pete Lindsey, Anna Jeanes and Julia Johnson teamed up in defence.

Croydon started brightly, with Stimpson opening the scoring. This was followed a minute later by a Bec long shot, and the game was on.

Croydon's sections had had little time to train together, and it showed, particularly down one end. The ball didn't flow round the pitch, and the communication struggled. The other end was better with some good set plays and some great controlled play.

It was a good 10 minutes before the next goal was scored, by Bec, but again it was less than a minute before the reply came, with a Jeanes' long shot. 2-2.

This was repeated some 4 minutes later, first Bec scoring, then Pratt sinking a long shot. 3-3.

With 3 minutes to go until half time, Lindsey scored a long shot, followed by Ellis missing a penalty, and Johnson scoring a trade mark goal to open up a 2 goal lead for the home side.

It wasn't to last though as inside 2 minutes, Bec scored 2 long shots and a running in shot to go into the lead at half time.

Bec's half time team talk seemed to fire them up, and with supporters cheering their every pass from the sidelines they scored the next 3 goals without reply. Croydon looked rattled, and struggled to find the form that they had had against Bec 2 the week before. The attack wasn't able to find the basket whils the defence had to work their socks off to keep the Bec shooters from scoring. Finally, after a long 10 minutes, Jeanes scored to bring one back (6-9) but then another goal was conceded.

Pratt converted a penalty for Croydon, before, yes, Bec scored again. 7-11.

With only 10 minutes remaining, Croydon seemed to wake up a little and find some rhythm. Ellis faked his player and slipped under for a goal. Then Jeanes drove in for a running in shot, which went through the basket, only for the ref to call it as a penalty and insist that the penalty was taken. (Ellis scored from the spot!)

When the sections swapped ends, Pratt scored to bring the difference to 1, and the last few minutes were frantic as the Croydon attack went all out to score, whilst the defence tried to take risks to snatch the ball. It was too little too late though, as the risk led to a Bec goal and the final whistle blew. A very dissappointing result for Croydon.

Match Report by Anna | Updated by Zuton

Final Score: Croydon 1 10 vs 12 Bec 3

D Pratt (3)	V Ellis (1)	P Lindsey (1)	Z Omar (0)
A Jeanes (3)	J Johnson (1)	G Stimpson (1)	H Hale (0)

Submitted by Anna | Scoring Breakdown |

Better performance, same result. Croydon 2 just fall short against Mitcham 2

There was some inspirational play from a much changed Croydon 2 side, which saw some great team work and some great individual performances against a mixed Mitcham 2 team. Croydon 2 had a very different look to its line up, thanks to the growing list of injured players throughout the whole of the club.

Ben Hale, Zoe Shewell, Ed Chaney and Steph Robinson started in attack, with captain Adam Champion, Lynda Barker, Dawn Aindow and Mark Irving in defence.

Mitcham scored the first goal but Hale soon replied to even up the scores. The inspirational pairing of Barker and Aindow then took over as they scored one apiece to put Croydon 3-1 up. Captain Champion was having his work cut out playing the experienced England youth coach Teague, but he was up for the battle, managing to prevent his player from scoring a single open play goal.

Mitcham 2 came back with 2 goals of their own, and it was even stevens again.

Champion scored from distance though, only for Mitcham to again respond. 4-4. Chaney was also have a great battle, against the ex-England international Ross Bower, known for his ability to score from anywhere on the pitch. Chaney seemed to be enjoying the encounter though, and he only allowed his player to score a single goal all game.

The next two goals went to Mitcham in quick succession, but it was through penalty decisions, rather than open play. The Croydon team battled on, now with Paul Jeanes having replaced the injured Hale.

The game threatened to descend into a pitched battle at times, as the amount of physical contact increased, especially in the lead up to half time, which came as Mitcham saw their lead extend to 3 goals. (4-7)

After half time, Croydon's Luke James came on to replace Jeanes. His opponent didn't seem to know what to do with the fast pace of his attack, and for the next 15 minutes there were only 2 goals scored, the first a Champion penalty and the second a long shot from James. (6-7)

With the pressure on Mitcham now, and Croydon's hopes up high, Mitcham sneaked a running in shot to restore a 2 goal lead. Barker wasn't having any of it though and with great team work from her section to support her, she shot and scored her 3rd long shot of the day.

Croydon couldn't quite find the next goal, despite retaining possession and trying different attacking methods. They conceded a late goal, which left the final score 7-9.

The Croydon team can be pleased with much of their performance against a Mitcham side which had several internationally experienced players.

Match Report by Anna

Final Score: Croydon 2 7 vs 9 Mitcham 2