Croydon 2 progress in EKA Cup after comfortable Cambridge contest

Croydon 2 took themselves up to Cambridge for the seeming annual cup match against a team from this fair city. This time it was City 2. The visitors were captained by Andy Withers with Ed Chaney, Julia Johnson and Hannah Driver joining him in attack. With Simon Mills, Kim Jones, Adam Champion and Sarah Hole in defence, the latter playing at this level for the first time. Whilst the EKA cup is handicapped this year, the tea,ms were calculated to be evenly balanced so neither had a head-start to build upon.

Cambridge City started very well with a goal from the first attack and after a mistake from Champion bringing the ball out of defence, soon they were 2 up but Jones scored one from the edge of her range and Champion beat his man to set up Mills for a simple drop-off. City showed their inexperience at the free-pass with Withers feeding the ball straight to Chaney for a simple goal from 3 metres and Withers followed up with a runner. Croydon called a time-out at this point to re-iterate that they were looking for long shots rather than being drawn into the crowded area under the post.

City scored next to make it 3-4 but Jones scored a running in shot and Chaney scored at the other end. Champion was unlucky not to be awarded a defended shot but the goal stood and the teams traded goals for a few minutes before Croydon closed out the half with a long shot from Driver and flat, mid-ranger from Johnson to leave themselves comfortable at 5-9 at the break.

City started the second half in fine fettle and Withers' player showed they had life in them yet with a long shot but Champion and Driver scored long shots to maintain the lead. The hosts called a time-out after 10 minutes but they couldn't stop the referee awarding Mills a dubious penalty that he converted. However he was unlucky to be replaced soon after by Luke James. The section had been struggling to find their rhythm for much of the half and so James was brought on to liven things up. After a few early shots, he fed Jones for another drop-off. City replied but Croydon continued to create chances and Withers was fouled whilst running in - he missed the penalty but flipped the collect to Chaney who made no mistake. James scored a drop-off with 3 minutes left to ensure all the Croydon team were on the scoresheet and eventually Croydon ran out 8-15 winners.

All in all a comfortable win and decent performance from Croydon 2, still room for improvement though in terms of being more patient both in attack and with each other.


Match Report by Andy | Updated by Andy

Match photo 1 of 9
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Final Score: Cambridge City 2 8 vs 15 Croydon 2

E Chaney (2)

A Withers (2)

A Champion (1)

S Mills (2)

U Player (1)

K Jones (3)

H Robinson (2)

S Hole (1)

J Johnson (1)

Submitted by Andy on 16 Oct 11