Bearsted comfortably see off CroydonCroydon 1 took on Bearsted 1 in a crucial clash at the wrong end of the EKL table at Royal Russell School. Croydon had a new look line-up with Anna Jeanes, Grace Stimpson, Luke James and Andy Withers in attack, whilst Vernon Ellis, Zak Omar, Sue Baker and Jane Belfourd took first defence. Croydon started well with a goal from distance from Withers with their first shot but Bearsted were quickly on the score-sheet themselves and they followed this up with a drop-off against Withers down the other end and middle distance shot from Stimpson’s girl. After a quick change in ends, the visitor’s scoring continued after Ellis flattened his attacker and a penalty was awarded and scored. Stimpson had the first of a couple of goals ruled out for “defended” so when Dibble scored Croydon found themselves 1-5 down after only 6 minutes. Croydon doubled their tally with a free-pass from Omar but a running-in shot was scored from Bearsted’s quick and agile girls. The scoring had slowed down by this stage so the visitors called a time-out at 2-6 and 19 minutes. On the resumption, Croydon earnt themselves the first of three free-passes down the other end but Jeanes wasn’t able to convert. Bailey did though, scoring his 2nd penalty. Croydon’s attacking section were creating plenty of chances as they worked the block over and over again but the connection between feeder and veerer didn’t seem to be quite there and they couldn’t find the space to take advantage. James did get himself on the score-sheet eventually though with a running-in shot but his defender, Sieber, scored a peachy long-shot in reply. With only a minute remaining Ellis still had time to miss a penalty, which unfortunately was prefaced by some unsporting pacing like a caged monkey around the 2.5m circle by the juvenile Dibble. The referee, like so many times in this match, turned a blind eye and after another attack, called time at 3-9 to the visitors. Croydon needed to start fast to get back into the game in the 2nd half and they so nearly did, but Stimpson’s running in shot rolled around the basket before falling out. Bearsted’s shooting was far more clinical throughout this match though and they made no mistake as they scored 2 more. The hosts called a time-out after 39 minutes but it was Bearsted who scored next with Sieber killing the game with a long shot to leave the score 3-12. Croydon brought on Kim Jones for Baker at this point and soon after Belfourd scored but after a somewhat embarrassing mix-up in the home defence at a free-pass, Bailey scored his third goal, 4-13. From here Croydon’s heads began to drop and Bearsted relaxed and scored the next couple before Omar found himself free and scored a simple goal off the back. Despite another goal to the visitors, Croydon restored some pride with goals from Jones, Jeanes and two from James but Bearsted weren’t done yet and managed to score 3 goals in the last minute to seal a 9-20 win. Croydon will have a lot to ponder after this defeat. The visitors seemed sharper to the ball and had far more accurate shooting but Croydon shot themselves in the foot somewhat with some over-exuberant defending in the first half and too many missed chances in the match.Match Report by Andy Previous photo Next photo1 of 11 Final Score: Croydon 1 9 vs 20 Bearsted 1Z Omar (2)A Withers (1)V Ellis (0)U Player (3)N Hudspith (0)J Hudspith (1)A Jeanes (1)G Codd (0)S Baker (0)K Jones (1)Submitted by Andy on 18 Dec 11Croydon 2 pipped by Nomads 3 in thrillerCroydon 2 hosted Nomads 3 in a high scoring affair at RR. Croydon started with Champion, Jones, Elliott and Chaney in attack, with Hudspith, Mills, Driver and Johnson in defence. Nomads got off to a flyer with a number of efforts from long range. Croydon replied with a few well taken goals around the basket, but Nomads had their shooting boots on and continued to fire from all distances, raking up 13 goals to Croydons 8 in the first half with a terrific goals to shot ratio. Despite the goal defecit, Croydon felt they had actually controlled more of the game and were confident they could claw their way back. Nomads scoring rate did decline slightly in the 2nd half, but Croydon had the momentum and scored 2 for 1 for 20 mins to get within a single goal with 10 to play. However, a timout for Nomads seemed to help them and they found the basket with their next three shots to pull clear again. Croydon kept working hard and tried again to come back, but time ran out with the final score 21-23 in favour of Nomads. Croydon will be pleased with scoring over 20 goals, but some days it's just your day, and Nomads 3 just had one of those days. Match Report by Nigel | Updated by Andy Previous photo Next photo1 of 7 Final Score: Croydon 2 21 vs 23 Nomads 3N Hudspith (7)E Chaney (4)S Mills (3)A Champion (2)J Johnson (2)K Jones (1)L MacKay-Elliott (1)H Robinson (1)Submitted by Nigel on 20 Dec 117 Player Croydon 3 Fall Short In Second HalfOn a frosty morning in Millwall Croydon 3 found themselves starting the game with only 7 players, so after a quick re-jig of sections Martin, Dom, Vicky and Kathy started in defence and Mark, Pete and Susan (I'm sure you can do the maths but just in case this was the section of 3) in first attack. After going one down in Supervova's first attack Croydon decided to pull one back from the throwoff, Mark ran past his player while Susan gave a diagonal pass for a quality runing in shot (game on!). This was made even more sweeter when one of the Supernova players shouted out "I can't belive they did that again, they did it last time too". Both teams traded goals in a very hard fought first half and went in at half time sharing the spoils 6 all. Seems in the first half they didn't know how to play against a team with only 7 players, something that was rectified in the half time team talk and they came out with their heads screwed on for round two. The 2nd half started badly for us with Supernova scoring goal after goal and started to pull away. Croydon dug in and everyone battled hard and started the fight back. The section of four had lots of good spells in attack and recycled the ball extremely well giving themselves 4 or 5 shot attacks while the section of three worked their socks off out collecting their extra player opponents. Unfortunately the ball started to drop for Supernova and the game finished 17-9. The score certainly didn't reflect the game and despite the result Croydon 3 should give themselves a deserved pat on the back. They were magnificent!Match Report by SteveW | Updated by SteveW Final Score: Supernova 2 17 vs 9 Croydon 3M Wright (3)M James (2)D Bradford (0)P Lindsey (0)S Wright (2)K Bradford (1)V Goode (1)Submitted by SteveW on 18 Dec 11Croydon 4 win the second half by 2 goals but lose the first by 8Croydon 4 rounded off 2011 with a home match (for a change) against a lively bunch of youngsters from nearby Bromley. Charlotte, Julie, Jon and Ben started off in attack with Angela, Mandy, Bryan and David in defence (which is where they stayed most of the game) Croydon were not playing badly but Bromley were running in some shots against some more senior legs. Ben retired injured and Adam stepped up to take his place. At half time we were 8 nil down, but not downhearted. The half time talk worked wonders. Anna and Simon had some wise words of counsel about staying back and letting them shoot. We went out for the second half and matched them shot for shot with Jon getting a running in shot set up be Julie. He had a bit of a run in with his opposite number which resulted in 2 free passes (both missed abjectly so more work needed there) and also some cautionary words from the ref to both of them. But it was a good spirited game and Charlotte rounded it off with a good shot from about 4m. So we clearly won the second half and there are promising signs that a team, at least half of whom only started playing at the beginning of the season, are starting to gel together and make some scoring opportunities. Roll on 2012Match Report by JonD Previous photo Next photo1 of 6 Final Score: Croydon 4 2 vs 8 Bromley 1J Dean (1)B Burr (0)D Hughes (0)A Dack (0)B Obee (0)C Feakins (1)A Furlano (0)J Green (0)A Newton (0)Submitted by JonD on 18 Dec 11
Croydon 2 pipped by Nomads 3 in thrillerCroydon 2 hosted Nomads 3 in a high scoring affair at RR. Croydon started with Champion, Jones, Elliott and Chaney in attack, with Hudspith, Mills, Driver and Johnson in defence. Nomads got off to a flyer with a number of efforts from long range. Croydon replied with a few well taken goals around the basket, but Nomads had their shooting boots on and continued to fire from all distances, raking up 13 goals to Croydons 8 in the first half with a terrific goals to shot ratio. Despite the goal defecit, Croydon felt they had actually controlled more of the game and were confident they could claw their way back. Nomads scoring rate did decline slightly in the 2nd half, but Croydon had the momentum and scored 2 for 1 for 20 mins to get within a single goal with 10 to play. However, a timout for Nomads seemed to help them and they found the basket with their next three shots to pull clear again. Croydon kept working hard and tried again to come back, but time ran out with the final score 21-23 in favour of Nomads. Croydon will be pleased with scoring over 20 goals, but some days it's just your day, and Nomads 3 just had one of those days. Match Report by Nigel | Updated by Andy Previous photo Next photo1 of 7 Final Score: Croydon 2 21 vs 23 Nomads 3N Hudspith (7)E Chaney (4)S Mills (3)A Champion (2)J Johnson (2)K Jones (1)L MacKay-Elliott (1)H Robinson (1)Submitted by Nigel on 20 Dec 117 Player Croydon 3 Fall Short In Second HalfOn a frosty morning in Millwall Croydon 3 found themselves starting the game with only 7 players, so after a quick re-jig of sections Martin, Dom, Vicky and Kathy started in defence and Mark, Pete and Susan (I'm sure you can do the maths but just in case this was the section of 3) in first attack. After going one down in Supervova's first attack Croydon decided to pull one back from the throwoff, Mark ran past his player while Susan gave a diagonal pass for a quality runing in shot (game on!). This was made even more sweeter when one of the Supernova players shouted out "I can't belive they did that again, they did it last time too". Both teams traded goals in a very hard fought first half and went in at half time sharing the spoils 6 all. Seems in the first half they didn't know how to play against a team with only 7 players, something that was rectified in the half time team talk and they came out with their heads screwed on for round two. The 2nd half started badly for us with Supernova scoring goal after goal and started to pull away. Croydon dug in and everyone battled hard and started the fight back. The section of four had lots of good spells in attack and recycled the ball extremely well giving themselves 4 or 5 shot attacks while the section of three worked their socks off out collecting their extra player opponents. Unfortunately the ball started to drop for Supernova and the game finished 17-9. The score certainly didn't reflect the game and despite the result Croydon 3 should give themselves a deserved pat on the back. They were magnificent!Match Report by SteveW | Updated by SteveW Final Score: Supernova 2 17 vs 9 Croydon 3M Wright (3)M James (2)D Bradford (0)P Lindsey (0)S Wright (2)K Bradford (1)V Goode (1)Submitted by SteveW on 18 Dec 11Croydon 4 win the second half by 2 goals but lose the first by 8Croydon 4 rounded off 2011 with a home match (for a change) against a lively bunch of youngsters from nearby Bromley. Charlotte, Julie, Jon and Ben started off in attack with Angela, Mandy, Bryan and David in defence (which is where they stayed most of the game) Croydon were not playing badly but Bromley were running in some shots against some more senior legs. Ben retired injured and Adam stepped up to take his place. At half time we were 8 nil down, but not downhearted. The half time talk worked wonders. Anna and Simon had some wise words of counsel about staying back and letting them shoot. We went out for the second half and matched them shot for shot with Jon getting a running in shot set up be Julie. He had a bit of a run in with his opposite number which resulted in 2 free passes (both missed abjectly so more work needed there) and also some cautionary words from the ref to both of them. But it was a good spirited game and Charlotte rounded it off with a good shot from about 4m. So we clearly won the second half and there are promising signs that a team, at least half of whom only started playing at the beginning of the season, are starting to gel together and make some scoring opportunities. Roll on 2012Match Report by JonD Previous photo Next photo1 of 6 Final Score: Croydon 4 2 vs 8 Bromley 1J Dean (1)B Burr (0)D Hughes (0)A Dack (0)B Obee (0)C Feakins (1)A Furlano (0)J Green (0)A Newton (0)Submitted by JonD on 18 Dec 11
7 Player Croydon 3 Fall Short In Second HalfOn a frosty morning in Millwall Croydon 3 found themselves starting the game with only 7 players, so after a quick re-jig of sections Martin, Dom, Vicky and Kathy started in defence and Mark, Pete and Susan (I'm sure you can do the maths but just in case this was the section of 3) in first attack. After going one down in Supervova's first attack Croydon decided to pull one back from the throwoff, Mark ran past his player while Susan gave a diagonal pass for a quality runing in shot (game on!). This was made even more sweeter when one of the Supernova players shouted out "I can't belive they did that again, they did it last time too". Both teams traded goals in a very hard fought first half and went in at half time sharing the spoils 6 all. Seems in the first half they didn't know how to play against a team with only 7 players, something that was rectified in the half time team talk and they came out with their heads screwed on for round two. The 2nd half started badly for us with Supernova scoring goal after goal and started to pull away. Croydon dug in and everyone battled hard and started the fight back. The section of four had lots of good spells in attack and recycled the ball extremely well giving themselves 4 or 5 shot attacks while the section of three worked their socks off out collecting their extra player opponents. Unfortunately the ball started to drop for Supernova and the game finished 17-9. The score certainly didn't reflect the game and despite the result Croydon 3 should give themselves a deserved pat on the back. They were magnificent!Match Report by SteveW | Updated by SteveW Final Score: Supernova 2 17 vs 9 Croydon 3M Wright (3)M James (2)D Bradford (0)P Lindsey (0)S Wright (2)K Bradford (1)V Goode (1)Submitted by SteveW on 18 Dec 11Croydon 4 win the second half by 2 goals but lose the first by 8Croydon 4 rounded off 2011 with a home match (for a change) against a lively bunch of youngsters from nearby Bromley. Charlotte, Julie, Jon and Ben started off in attack with Angela, Mandy, Bryan and David in defence (which is where they stayed most of the game) Croydon were not playing badly but Bromley were running in some shots against some more senior legs. Ben retired injured and Adam stepped up to take his place. At half time we were 8 nil down, but not downhearted. The half time talk worked wonders. Anna and Simon had some wise words of counsel about staying back and letting them shoot. We went out for the second half and matched them shot for shot with Jon getting a running in shot set up be Julie. He had a bit of a run in with his opposite number which resulted in 2 free passes (both missed abjectly so more work needed there) and also some cautionary words from the ref to both of them. But it was a good spirited game and Charlotte rounded it off with a good shot from about 4m. So we clearly won the second half and there are promising signs that a team, at least half of whom only started playing at the beginning of the season, are starting to gel together and make some scoring opportunities. Roll on 2012Match Report by JonD Previous photo Next photo1 of 6 Final Score: Croydon 4 2 vs 8 Bromley 1J Dean (1)B Burr (0)D Hughes (0)A Dack (0)B Obee (0)C Feakins (1)A Furlano (0)J Green (0)A Newton (0)Submitted by JonD on 18 Dec 11
Croydon 4 win the second half by 2 goals but lose the first by 8Croydon 4 rounded off 2011 with a home match (for a change) against a lively bunch of youngsters from nearby Bromley. Charlotte, Julie, Jon and Ben started off in attack with Angela, Mandy, Bryan and David in defence (which is where they stayed most of the game) Croydon were not playing badly but Bromley were running in some shots against some more senior legs. Ben retired injured and Adam stepped up to take his place. At half time we were 8 nil down, but not downhearted. The half time talk worked wonders. Anna and Simon had some wise words of counsel about staying back and letting them shoot. We went out for the second half and matched them shot for shot with Jon getting a running in shot set up be Julie. He had a bit of a run in with his opposite number which resulted in 2 free passes (both missed abjectly so more work needed there) and also some cautionary words from the ref to both of them. But it was a good spirited game and Charlotte rounded it off with a good shot from about 4m. So we clearly won the second half and there are promising signs that a team, at least half of whom only started playing at the beginning of the season, are starting to gel together and make some scoring opportunities. Roll on 2012Match Report by JonD Previous photo Next photo1 of 6 Final Score: Croydon 4 2 vs 8 Bromley 1J Dean (1)B Burr (0)D Hughes (0)A Dack (0)B Obee (0)C Feakins (1)A Furlano (0)J Green (0)A Newton (0)Submitted by JonD on 18 Dec 11
