EKA Reserve League: Invicta 2 vs Croydon 2 Final Score: Croydon 2 13 vs 13 Invicta 2P Jeanes (4)D Pratt (3)V Ellis (2)N Hudspith (2)A Jeanes (2)L Barker (0)A Furlano (0)B Sinclair (0)Submitted by Andy on 16 Mar 07West London 1 vs Croydon 3 The thirds had West London 1 away and was it away! with all the sun shining everyone was in Richmond Park (on route) so slowly to the game and for the Butters Family they even tried to use a closed gate! But all 8 players arrived and it was game on. As Pete was the last to arrive his section (Andy, Becky and Julia) went first attack so that he could work at his own warm up pace. Thus leaving defence as Dan, Emma, Mick and me who also had the joy of the slight breeze from the open door as it was a sauna in their hall. Well if you didn't guess by all the words and no game facts my mind is the usual blank on who scored first. I will go with Becky and a nice drop off from the collect and then say we let a goal in so all change. Emma was on form with running in shots but I do believe her goal was just throwing the ball up from way back and it went in easily. At this point I will say I chose Dan as mvp as he had 'the greyhound' or something like that as seemingly all his bloke does is run fast and zoom everywhere and score goals, hmm maybe he was called 'road runner' anyway dan 'done good' against him and our section was on tip top form, watch us in defence solid, strong, defended shots, interceptions... In other words the other section passed, didn't rush with the ball, put shots up and put shots up and you guessed it, put shots up. It must have been the transfer back to wicker baskets as it took a long time (generally) for them to score. I guess both sections did but good fact was every player was very good at collecting (our section did also have a go at putting shots up that didn't go in). In other words again we should have had a nice comfy win but made a meal out of it... Julia ran around working for everyone, Becky put up shots, Pete and Andy worked the post and then were out taking long shots. Mick had his running in shot stolen by me but the ball had left my hands just as I say him... Dan and Emma were in then out and in Dan's case up and down (he does like to jump). All I can say is we won and job done Final score 9 - 6 to us yeah and thanks to Dave for the shouting advice (needed), Hannah, Ryan, Harry and Lucy for watching Match Report by Lorna Final Score: West London 1 6 vs 9 Croydon 3A Burnham (1)D Moore (1)P Lindsey (0)M Moore (0)E Butters (2)B Lockett (2)L MacKay-Elliott (2)J Johnson (1)Submitted by Andy on 16 Mar 07Nomads 4 vs Croydon 4 Croydon 4 travelled to Epsom in a (very) early morning fixtures to take on Nomads 4, with half the team arriving to the stench of rotting fish, things didn't start too brightly. Croydon had the luxury this week of having a subsitute with 5 boys jostling for the 4 spots available. The coach took the decision to start with Paul Andrews on the bench as he had been missing from training and set out with Simon Mills (c), Phil Aish, Karen James and Becky Dean in first attack with Jon Dean, Steve Pratt, Rhiannon Williams-Clarke and Zoe Shewell in defence. The match got underway and Croydon obviously still bleary-eyed let their opposition have some easy chances and they raced to a 3-0 lead. Croydon managed to pull one back with a running-in shot from Simon, Nomads were very aggressive and Croydon were getting frustrated with the physical contact which threatened to escalate further, the mood of the game was not helped by the fact the referee let a lot of the contact go unpunished, the ref even took offence to the coach calling for a penalty to be awarded after Rhiannon was fouled from behind as she was taking a long shot. Nomads' game clearly rattled Croydon as they couldn't find any good oppurtunities. The defence was pushing hard and Nomads had to rely on lucky long shots and a couple goals put Croydon even further behind with the scores 5-1. With attacks constantly relying on the feed, the coach took the decision to switch to long shooting and emphasis on the collect, it took a few possessions for this to take effect but it seemed to be working and they used the whole court to create oppurtunities and it payed off with Jon netting a long shot. Nomads continued to force their way to the basket and a dodgy penalty decision saw Nomads take a 6-2 lead into half time. At half time the referee was keen to speak to the captains about the shouting going on off the pitch, although most of the noise seemed to be coming from the vast and seemingly ridiculously misinformed Nomads crowd. Half time saw the introduction of Paul and Steve agreed to come off. The second half began the same way as the first with Croydon allowing Nomads to get an easy running-in shot, but the attack wasn't ready to lie down and roll over to Nomads 'bully' tactics and a sneaky under the post shot from subsitute Paul showed Croydon meant business and they prove this further when Jon put up another long shot to make it a 3 goal game. Unfortunately Croydon's comeback was stopped in its tracks when the referee let a defended shot be allowed as a goal. Not to be disheartened the attack continued to put up long shots and a half-court shot from Simon brought the scores to 8-5. Full time came all too soon for Croydon once again but they will be pleased with the performance and determination they showed in the second half and the replay in a couple of weeks will be sure to be a bit of a grudge match as a few of the players took exception to the rough nature of Nomads. Match Report by Sicknote Final Score: Nomads 4 8 vs 5 Croydon 4J Dean (2)S Mills (2)P Aish (0)P Andrews (1)S Pratt (0)K James (0)B Lockett (0)Z Shewell (0)R Williams-Clarke (0)Submitted by Andy on 16 Mar 07
West London 1 vs Croydon 3 The thirds had West London 1 away and was it away! with all the sun shining everyone was in Richmond Park (on route) so slowly to the game and for the Butters Family they even tried to use a closed gate! But all 8 players arrived and it was game on. As Pete was the last to arrive his section (Andy, Becky and Julia) went first attack so that he could work at his own warm up pace. Thus leaving defence as Dan, Emma, Mick and me who also had the joy of the slight breeze from the open door as it was a sauna in their hall. Well if you didn't guess by all the words and no game facts my mind is the usual blank on who scored first. I will go with Becky and a nice drop off from the collect and then say we let a goal in so all change. Emma was on form with running in shots but I do believe her goal was just throwing the ball up from way back and it went in easily. At this point I will say I chose Dan as mvp as he had 'the greyhound' or something like that as seemingly all his bloke does is run fast and zoom everywhere and score goals, hmm maybe he was called 'road runner' anyway dan 'done good' against him and our section was on tip top form, watch us in defence solid, strong, defended shots, interceptions... In other words the other section passed, didn't rush with the ball, put shots up and put shots up and you guessed it, put shots up. It must have been the transfer back to wicker baskets as it took a long time (generally) for them to score. I guess both sections did but good fact was every player was very good at collecting (our section did also have a go at putting shots up that didn't go in). In other words again we should have had a nice comfy win but made a meal out of it... Julia ran around working for everyone, Becky put up shots, Pete and Andy worked the post and then were out taking long shots. Mick had his running in shot stolen by me but the ball had left my hands just as I say him... Dan and Emma were in then out and in Dan's case up and down (he does like to jump). All I can say is we won and job done Final score 9 - 6 to us yeah and thanks to Dave for the shouting advice (needed), Hannah, Ryan, Harry and Lucy for watching Match Report by Lorna Final Score: West London 1 6 vs 9 Croydon 3A Burnham (1)D Moore (1)P Lindsey (0)M Moore (0)E Butters (2)B Lockett (2)L MacKay-Elliott (2)J Johnson (1)Submitted by Andy on 16 Mar 07Nomads 4 vs Croydon 4 Croydon 4 travelled to Epsom in a (very) early morning fixtures to take on Nomads 4, with half the team arriving to the stench of rotting fish, things didn't start too brightly. Croydon had the luxury this week of having a subsitute with 5 boys jostling for the 4 spots available. The coach took the decision to start with Paul Andrews on the bench as he had been missing from training and set out with Simon Mills (c), Phil Aish, Karen James and Becky Dean in first attack with Jon Dean, Steve Pratt, Rhiannon Williams-Clarke and Zoe Shewell in defence. The match got underway and Croydon obviously still bleary-eyed let their opposition have some easy chances and they raced to a 3-0 lead. Croydon managed to pull one back with a running-in shot from Simon, Nomads were very aggressive and Croydon were getting frustrated with the physical contact which threatened to escalate further, the mood of the game was not helped by the fact the referee let a lot of the contact go unpunished, the ref even took offence to the coach calling for a penalty to be awarded after Rhiannon was fouled from behind as she was taking a long shot. Nomads' game clearly rattled Croydon as they couldn't find any good oppurtunities. The defence was pushing hard and Nomads had to rely on lucky long shots and a couple goals put Croydon even further behind with the scores 5-1. With attacks constantly relying on the feed, the coach took the decision to switch to long shooting and emphasis on the collect, it took a few possessions for this to take effect but it seemed to be working and they used the whole court to create oppurtunities and it payed off with Jon netting a long shot. Nomads continued to force their way to the basket and a dodgy penalty decision saw Nomads take a 6-2 lead into half time. At half time the referee was keen to speak to the captains about the shouting going on off the pitch, although most of the noise seemed to be coming from the vast and seemingly ridiculously misinformed Nomads crowd. Half time saw the introduction of Paul and Steve agreed to come off. The second half began the same way as the first with Croydon allowing Nomads to get an easy running-in shot, but the attack wasn't ready to lie down and roll over to Nomads 'bully' tactics and a sneaky under the post shot from subsitute Paul showed Croydon meant business and they prove this further when Jon put up another long shot to make it a 3 goal game. Unfortunately Croydon's comeback was stopped in its tracks when the referee let a defended shot be allowed as a goal. Not to be disheartened the attack continued to put up long shots and a half-court shot from Simon brought the scores to 8-5. Full time came all too soon for Croydon once again but they will be pleased with the performance and determination they showed in the second half and the replay in a couple of weeks will be sure to be a bit of a grudge match as a few of the players took exception to the rough nature of Nomads. Match Report by Sicknote Final Score: Nomads 4 8 vs 5 Croydon 4J Dean (2)S Mills (2)P Aish (0)P Andrews (1)S Pratt (0)K James (0)B Lockett (0)Z Shewell (0)R Williams-Clarke (0)Submitted by Andy on 16 Mar 07
Nomads 4 vs Croydon 4 Croydon 4 travelled to Epsom in a (very) early morning fixtures to take on Nomads 4, with half the team arriving to the stench of rotting fish, things didn't start too brightly. Croydon had the luxury this week of having a subsitute with 5 boys jostling for the 4 spots available. The coach took the decision to start with Paul Andrews on the bench as he had been missing from training and set out with Simon Mills (c), Phil Aish, Karen James and Becky Dean in first attack with Jon Dean, Steve Pratt, Rhiannon Williams-Clarke and Zoe Shewell in defence. The match got underway and Croydon obviously still bleary-eyed let their opposition have some easy chances and they raced to a 3-0 lead. Croydon managed to pull one back with a running-in shot from Simon, Nomads were very aggressive and Croydon were getting frustrated with the physical contact which threatened to escalate further, the mood of the game was not helped by the fact the referee let a lot of the contact go unpunished, the ref even took offence to the coach calling for a penalty to be awarded after Rhiannon was fouled from behind as she was taking a long shot. Nomads' game clearly rattled Croydon as they couldn't find any good oppurtunities. The defence was pushing hard and Nomads had to rely on lucky long shots and a couple goals put Croydon even further behind with the scores 5-1. With attacks constantly relying on the feed, the coach took the decision to switch to long shooting and emphasis on the collect, it took a few possessions for this to take effect but it seemed to be working and they used the whole court to create oppurtunities and it payed off with Jon netting a long shot. Nomads continued to force their way to the basket and a dodgy penalty decision saw Nomads take a 6-2 lead into half time. At half time the referee was keen to speak to the captains about the shouting going on off the pitch, although most of the noise seemed to be coming from the vast and seemingly ridiculously misinformed Nomads crowd. Half time saw the introduction of Paul and Steve agreed to come off. The second half began the same way as the first with Croydon allowing Nomads to get an easy running-in shot, but the attack wasn't ready to lie down and roll over to Nomads 'bully' tactics and a sneaky under the post shot from subsitute Paul showed Croydon meant business and they prove this further when Jon put up another long shot to make it a 3 goal game. Unfortunately Croydon's comeback was stopped in its tracks when the referee let a defended shot be allowed as a goal. Not to be disheartened the attack continued to put up long shots and a half-court shot from Simon brought the scores to 8-5. Full time came all too soon for Croydon once again but they will be pleased with the performance and determination they showed in the second half and the replay in a couple of weeks will be sure to be a bit of a grudge match as a few of the players took exception to the rough nature of Nomads. Match Report by Sicknote Final Score: Nomads 4 8 vs 5 Croydon 4J Dean (2)S Mills (2)P Aish (0)P Andrews (1)S Pratt (0)K James (0)B Lockett (0)Z Shewell (0)R Williams-Clarke (0)Submitted by Andy on 16 Mar 07
