Croydon 2 vs Nottingham 2 Croydon entertained Nottingham in their first league game of the season at Royal Russell. Croydon lined up with captain Nigel Hudspith, Zu Munshi, Becky Pratt, Lynda Barker and Dan Pratt, Vernon Ellis, Julia Johnson and Sarah Withers. It was a tepid start to the match with neither team able to get the round thing through the new plastic yellow things but eventually Becky Pratt dropped off from a Hudspith pass to score. Nottingham replied 6 minutes later so a quarter through the game the teams were level at 1-1. Then the goals came. Sadly for the home side, despite a Dan Pratt penalty, they were mostly for Nottingham as they raced to a 2-6 lead with Croydon on the ropes for a while. A time-out from Croydon stopped the goals from leaking though and a long shot from Hudspith brought Croydon back into the match just before the break at 3-6. Croydon obviously had quite a talking to at half time as they came out like a team possessed. Hudspith and Ellis scored running in shots and the momentum was with the home team for a while: despite a dubious penalty for Nottingham, further runners from Hudspith and Barker brought parity at 7-7. Croydon were then ahead for the first time in the match at 8-7 after Ellis netted a long shot but Munshi let in a soft running-in shot and Nottingham were level again. Both teams started to get a bit nervy now as evidenced by Pratt missing Withers' well-won penalty. It was Nottingham who scored first though only for Becky Pratt to find the goal again. All this in the third quarter of the match. Coach Butters brought on fresh legs in the form of Paul Jeanes for Munshi and, debutante at this level, Leah Palfreyman for Barker. Palfreyman performed well and Jeanes didn't forego any effort but not in the right areas as he tried referee Bond's patience once to often, resulting in a penalty and the home side behind again. Croydon started to get a bit frantic but were be-calmed by another time-out and a final running-in shot from Ellis (exactly as called by Hudspith senior on the sidelines) made all square and so it ended. Both teams will feel they should have won but all told it was a fair result on the balance of play as both teams had 10 minutes of ascendency either side of half time and otherwise it was pretty even. Croydon need to look at some of their decision making when chasing the game and certain players (Mr Pratt springs readily to mind) should spend less time appealing for decisions and more time fighting for the ball. Match Report by Andy Final Score: Croydon 2 10 vs 10 Nottingham City 2V Ellis (3)N Hudspith (3)D Pratt (1)Z Omar (0)P Jeanes (0)B Sinclair (2)J Johnson (0)S Withers (0)L Barker (1)L Palfreyman (0)Submitted by on 28 Oct 06
