North Downs KC 13 v 29 Croydon KC After Bec's loss to Trojans in the morning Croydon knew that a win against North Downs would secure their premiership status, and allow the team to concentrate on the Cup final against Invicta. The line-up of the Croydon girls has been anything but consistent this season with numerous injuries and a couple of pregnancies too. This game Croydon were without both Kat Van Der Bunt and Sarah George, but Jennie Allen and Julia Johnson filled the gap more than adequately. Amanda Furlano who started the season as a sub for the second team found herself now subbing for the firsts. The match started at a quick pace with North Downs looking strong in attack being able to recycle the ball with ease. Croydon then began to dominate and pulled out a 5-1 lead within 10 minutes. Some sharp shooting from North Downs saw them close the gap to 5-3 but this was as close as they were to get. Croydon then turned on the style with some excellent long shooting. With ten minutes until half-time, an injury to one of the North Downs girls meant they were down to 7 players until a replacement was found. Once Croydon had adapted to a different attacking style they exploited having an extra player and were leading 13-4 at the break. After the break, Croydon scored with ease but North Downs continued to battle. With the score at 18-4 Richard Crabb was brought on for Dave Butters, and then Amanda Furlano was brought on in place of Julia Johnson for her first taste of National League action. With the game secured Croydon seemed to ease off the gas allowing North Downs to begin to trade goals. Although North Downs can now do little about being relegated, they continued to battle and scored 9 goals in the last 15 minutes but could do nothing to prevent the goals from Croydon. Final score was 29-13 to Croydon. Paul Jeanes stood out for his well-timed runs that fooled his opponent throughout the game, and Ivan Aquino put on his best shooting form of the season. Kim Jones who normally plays in a more supportive role for husband Steve, netted 3 leaving Steve to have, for him, a quiet return from injury. While Ali Rotheram worked with Jenny Allen scoring 3 a-piece. Croydon scorers: S Jones (4), P Jeanes (7), I Aquino (6), D Butters (1), R Crabb (sub, 1), J Allen (3), A Rotherham (3), K Jones (3), J Johnson (1), A Furlano (sub) Match Report by Andy Final Score: North Downs 1 13 vs 29 Croydon 1There were no Croydon scorers in this game.Submitted by on 23 Oct 05
