Notts City 2 sneak past a resurgent Croydon 2Croydon 2 lined up in the pre-Christmas cup against Nottingham City 2 with Dan Pratt, Ed Chaney, Anna Jeanes and Zoe Shewell in attack and Adam Champion, Pete Lindsey, Karen James and Julia Johnson in defence. Nottingham made the snowy trip down south with nearly the same team that saw off Croydon 1 in the previous round but with Al Knight warming the bench (or at least trying to in chilly Royal Russell). Croydon started on fire with 3 well worked attacks recycled until Pratt tricked his player under the post for a penalty. He scored from the spot and the next attack was much the same with the ball well recycled before Pratt beat his player on a runner, was fouled again, penalty called, goal scored. Nottingham were quick to get back into the attack though and Pratt's player scored from the back of the basket and then Jeanes was beaten by a runner. However Pratt was in the zone and scored a turn-in-the-feed. Jam Trubridge saw the full face of Lindsey's hand with a blam but Trubridge was on hand to score the rebound. 2-all. Croydon's defensive section was not purring as well as their colleagues but Champion set his sights early with a goal from downtown to restore Croydon's lead after 12 minutes. After a few minutes of stalemate, Johnson ran her player for another penalty that Lindsey scored with ease. Fro Barkwith was a passenger until this point but he tricked Champion under the post for the rebound and went past him to score as Champion raced out. Barkwith then outcollected Champion to score another lay-up: 5-all. Champion was in no mood to give in though and he replied in kind with a neat long shot, his second in the quarter. Perhaps to even things up a bit, the visitors were awarded a generous penalty for Chaney attempting to block the girl's pass out from the feed and Sam Whittaker made no mistake. The goals were flying in and Nottingham got themselves ahead for the first time in the match as Croydon's boys were weak in the collect and after a mix-up Trubridge found himself free and he scored a tidy longshot. Chaney restored parity with a long shot from the sidelines but Nottingham were soon back in front after a drop-off and then a few minutes later Shewell wasn't tight enough and Whittaker scored another. Trubridge netted a penalty and suddenly Croydon were 3 down at 7-10. Chaney scored a beauty off a collect though to bring Croydon back into it at 8-10. Time-out Nottingham. With minutes remaining, Whittaker was allowed a dubious goal under the post despite Shewell being in position and all over her. Champion was having a stormer though and gave Barkwith a taste of his own medicine with a fake and goal from the back of the basket. Half time: 9-12. Notts were awarded a dodgy penalty to kick off the half but an embarassed Trubridge missed from the spot and Croydon were back in the game as Pratt sank an effortless middle-distancer. Soon after Johnson attempted her trademark hoik, including enough skips to be called travelling but her defender was adjudged to have been in place and she was denied. There was time yet though. Lindsey had been learning his lines for the 3rd sequel in the series up until this point but then he switched on, transformed into a long shooter and scored one from the corner. Optimus Prime. Nottingham scored the next couple but Shewell ghosted past her player (yeah she's looking a bit pasty) and Pratt scored from the resulting penalty. Croydon couldn't keep the visitors out though and they continued to take their chances. Notts called another time out at 12-15. Lindsey clearly liked the rest as he stung like (a) bumblebee, dropped off quickly for once and this time scored his drop-off. The home crowd were then in uproar as a pass from Dowding to Champion was deemed a penalty and this time Trubridge made no mistake from the spot: 13-17. Meanwhile Zach and Oscar were now getting interested in the laptop and the match report writer was having all kinds of trouble. Soon after so were the scorers, too much fizzy pop for those two, mummy. The goals stopped flowing as the clock ran down and Croydon weren't able to recover the ground against the plucky midlanders. As the final whistle went, Johnson was mid-hoik but like a lot of things in this match the ref didn't see it that way and blew his whistle. Final score: 13-18. Croydon 2 put up a great fight against Nottingham City 2 in this match. The boys were banging the goals in but unfortunately the team weren't able to keep Nottingham out for any length of time in this match and eventually the goals and time dried up and Croydon's chances of EKA cup glory were over for another year. Match Report by Andy Previous photo Next photo1 of 14 Final Score: Croydon 2 13 vs 18 Nottingham City 2D Pratt (5)A Champion (3)P Lindsey (3)E Chaney (2)K James (0)A Jeanes (0)J Johnson (0)Z Shewell (0)Submitted by Andy on 20 Dec 09
