Croydon 2 fight to the death to earn point in thriller at Whitgift

S Gooch (3)	S Mills (2)	Z Omar (1)	A Stevens (1)
S Withers (4)	S Wright (2)	A Campbell (1)	A Jeanes (1)

Hard fought, good thinking won the match for Croydon 4

Congratulations to the 4's fantastically well played. I was not going to give an individual MVP today as we all played our socks off with determination and restrained aggression, but the result page insists on one.
In first attack were Jon, Mark, Vicki and Sarah leaving Craig, David, Charlotte and Kerry in first defence. A match report will added shortly by Becki.

Croydon 4 arrived at Trinity school for an early 9am throw off. The team were seeking a comeback from their defeat earlier in the season by Trojans.

Trojans opened the scoring with a quick response from Mark. With a change of ends Croydon began to pile on the pressure with 2 great goals from David, one a very well worked runner due to quick passing within the section and the second a long shot within moments of each other. Once ends were changed Our attacking section were putting huge amounts of pressure on to the Trojans defence from getting the ball out the section, causing the home team difficulties at getting attacking chances. Once Trojans finally had the ball at their end they replied with their second goal. Croydon's defence were dominating the rebound at this point limiting Trojans to one shot attacks and getting the ball back down for the attack. Marks section worked brilliant opening the ball up around the pitch, calm and controlled to which a lovely play was set up and Mark got a great runner against his opponent. Half time 4-2 to the visitors, confidence high and hope that a win could possibly be on the cards!

Second half and neither end managed to put away any goals for a while- Croydon had numerous shots on target but they just didn't sink through the net- some looking promising but bouncing back out. It was the visitors who put the first goal of the second half away first with a lovely drop off from the back of the post from Kerry.
Moments later after some great rebounding from Charlotte, she managed to be goal side of her player on the rebound and cooly slotted in a goal from under the post.
Trojans were not ready to hand Croydon the game just yet as they replied with 2 in a row taking the scores to 6-4. Our attack started to get a bit panicky under the pressure with not long left on the clock but kept a usually fiery Trojans very quiet with a solid defence!
Domination of the rebound in our attack enabled us to have a 6 shot attack but unfortunately the shots just wouldn't go in under pressure. It was Trojans who next scored leaving the score 6-5 with around a minute left on the clock. Determined for the win, both Croydon's attack and defence pressured every ball in and out the section and hustled to win every loose ball. Final the whistle blew leaving the (underdog) visitors winners!

Great team work from all today- all the chased loose balls and solid defence paid off! Couldn't decide on MVP either as every player on the pitch gave it everything today! Well done 4ths!

Match Report by David | Updated by David

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Final Score: Trojans 3 5 vs 6 Croydon 4

D Hughes (2)	M Wright (2)	J Dean (0)	C Stevens (0)
K Akif (1)	C Feakins (1)	V Goode (0)	S Hole (0)

Submitted by David on 01 Mar 15

Swans finally hit 15

Swans took on Highbury 4 at Royal Russell with what may well be the starting 8 when they face Bec in the playoff final at the end of the month. Ben, Leo, Jess and Joc started in first attack with Roger, Joe, Wendy and Emma in first defence. Despite the pre match team talk focusing on getting a fast start it was the team in red who struck first. Swans attacking section was slow to gel and it wasn't until Joc made a clever pass over Bens defender for him to turn and level the scores from under the post.

Sections changed and after some good rebounding from Wendy, Emma took a good feed position to set up Joe for a trademark one handed runner. Highbury struck back at the other end so all change once again. This time the Swans were able to start pulling away. Leo's good vision paid off as he picked out Ben to score from 3 metres then Jess cleverly got inside her player and showed composure from 2 metres.

All change again and Rogers section looked in complete control in attack and defence. Some good recycling and with different people taking their turn to work the post Joe was able to slot in from 3 metres. Followed shortly by a nicely executed shot from Wendy 4 metres out. Change of ends at 6-2 and the Swans were beginning to find their rhythm. Jess assisted Ben for a first half hat trick before Highbury buried another long shot to take us in at half time 7-3 up.

The team talk was quite easy for Ben this week as the swans have never scored more than 14 in a game. The team talk was basically we need to score 15 or more. When Joe completed his hat trick from 3 metres and Rog dropped a beauty from 5 metres the 15 goals looked on. Highbury continued to work hard and pegged another back before Ben got his 4th after Leo's pace drew both defenders to him. Change of ends again and Emma, who is pushing to be the leading girl scorer in LKA3 this season finished a runner with ease. Gordon, who has got the better of Tom on a number of occasions did the same to Leo as he slotted home from 5 metres.

Change again and once again Leo's movement caused chaos allowing Joc to rise above her opponent and collect before finding Ben in space for his 5th of the game. Jess then ran her girl once again to convert a well taken runner. Change of ends and Gordon took advantage of a mistake by Ben as Leo was left marking two players. Roger, who had an excellent game taking care of their most experienced boy got his 2nd of the game and took the Swans to the all too familiar score of 14. Change of ends and finally Leo was rewarded for his hard work and creativity as he finished neatly from 3 metres. Final score finished 15-6 which mean the Swans secure top spot in their half of the table and will get a chance to play Bec for the league title.

MVP could have gone to anyone today. Wendy battled hard and rebounded well. Emma put in an excellent defensive performance and restricted her girl to one shot. Rog was unselfish and did a great job on their biggest attacking threat while Joe showed great composure with his finishing. At the other end Ben was accurate with his shooting. Jess looked sharp and ran her girl a number of times and Leo was creative and energetic particularly in attack. MVP goes to Joc for working hard and keeping a far more experienced opponent out of the game. Thank you also to Lorna who overcame her nerves and refed the match well.


Match Report by Ben | Updated by Ben

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Final Score: Croydon Swans 15 vs 6 Highbury 4

B Walsh (5)	J Smith (3)	R White (2)	L Yearwood (1)
J Green (2)	E Sturgess (1)	W White (1)	J Galloway (0)

Submitted by Ben on 01 Mar 15