Poor first half costs Croydon 2 the game against Bec 2 Final Score: Bec 2 20 vs 8 Croydon 2Daniel(3)Ben(2)Adam(1)Mark(0)Zoe(1)Becky(1)Karen(0)Julia(0)
Traffic can't stop Croydon 4's winning streakCroydon 4 travelled across London to take on Supernova 4 in the reverse of last fortnights game. Traffic and road works in the surrounding area meant half the team were running late but Dan and Becki Pratt stepped in to start the game as the visitors were only allowed to drop two players. Croydon started short, with Becki Pratt, Steve Chadd and Luke James who captained the side for the first time in attack, Dan Pratt, Mike Lavine and Steph Robinson started in defence. The visitors started badly in defence, a mix up left a free player and Supernova got off to the start they were after scoring a short shot to take the lead. Croydon were still able to find space despite the numerical disadvantage and B Pratt turned under the post to level the scores at 1-1. With the change around the defence were doing well, collecting any loose balls and intercepting regularly to give the attack extra time to try and work some space, it paid off as Robinson freed herself from her player to score from close range. The visitors didn't hold the lead for long as Supernova replied to leave it at 2 all. The game was picking up pace and it got a bit too much for Supernovas free girl as she stumbled whilst taking down an uncontested collect and hurt herself in the process, a sub was made but the hosts could not make a breakthrough, Croydon's attack benefited from the extra possession with James getting past his player for a running in shot, soon after B Pratt was fouled whilst shooting and stepped up to take the penalty herself. After a tense moment the ball eventually found its way into the korf to give the visitors a two goal advantage. Croydon were awarded another penalty after D Pratt was fouled taking a short shot and Lavine stepped up to take the shot, unfortunately it bounced out and the visitors played out the half to go into the break 4-2 up. Just before the interval the traffic delayed players arrived and Croydon set out after the restart with Mike Lavine and Steph Robinson being joined by Charlotte Feakins and Dom Bradford to carry on the attack whilst Steve Chadd and Luke James were joined by Hayley Rand and Sarah Hole in defence. The game restarted and Croydons defence were still on top, James and Chadd making some crucial interceptions, Lavine began to find his range with a couple of shots and with some nice collecting from Feakins the attack was able to recycle the ball well, Lavine then found the goal he was looking for, scoring from long distance to put the visitors 5-2 in front. Croydon continued to press in defence but Supernova made the most of their limited chances by scoring from behind the basket with a neat drop off shot. With the change over Rand continued the hard work in collect, making sure that any missed shots were hers and showed good aggression in winning the loose balls. This seemed to spark the rest of the division as they went close numerous times, Chadd won the team a penalty and James was given the responsibility of taking it, he too missed from the spot but made up for it soon after scoring from the side of the post to restore Croydons 3 goal lead at 6-3. Hole got on the score sheet almost immediately after with a middle distance shot to put the away side even further in front and from then on Croydon looked comfortable. Croydons defence was on top form and shut out Supernova well whilst in attack they had the opportunity to try some new plays, with Feakins doing a lot of collect work and then Bradford and Lavine being unselfish and getting some good feeds for the girls to run onto, Robinson benefited on a couple of occasions and almost found herself on the score sheet again, only for the ball to bounce out from the korf. The rest of the game was played out much the same, with both sections on top of the opposition but Croydon were unable to capitalise and the game came to an end with the final scores 7-3. Two wins out of two for the 4th team, their dominance on both halves of the court was impressive and if they can do that in every game they have every chance of winning the league title this year! Well done to the whole team for a very impressive performance. Match Report by Sicknote | Updated by Andy Final Score: Supernova 4 3 vs 7 Croydon 4Unknown(2)Mike(1)Steve(0)Dom(0)Daniel(0)Stephanie(1)Becky(2)Sarah(1)Charlotte(0)Hayley(0)
