26th October 2014 at Royal Russell School, Croydon
Report by Anke Robijns. Translation by Matt Snelgar!
After an extra hour of sleep Supernova 4 took the challenge to Croydon 5. Starting in attack were Matt, John, Francesca and Rhiannon; in defense Mark, Chris, Beth and Simran (with Eiti playing the first 10 minutes in place of Simran).
Matt very quickly opened the scoring with a short opportunity under the pole (0-1) but Croydon made themselves known and scored not long after to equalise.
A long period of time without goals followed – both sides were defending strongly and pressure on the passing lead to loss of the ball. Croydon missed a penalty and were quickly punished by Eiti scoring a beautiful goal (1-2). At this point Simran arrived and replaced Eiti.
The quality of the game improved and beautiful combinations were being played although unfortunately these did not reward any goals for Supernova. Croydon had more success in finishing and two shots from a distance added to their total, followed by a running in shot and another long distance shot. The half-time score was 5-2.
Of particular note in the first half was the beautiful interplay between Francesca and Rhiannon, Beth’s hard work (despite the motion sickness), Matt as king of the rebounds, Mark controlling the court well, John’s offensive movement, Simran’s great defensive technique and good positioning from Chris.
Supernova started the second half with bravery and self belief but Croydon were awarded a quick penalty which they finished on the second attempt. Matt broke the Croydon momentum when he ran his opponent smoothly making the score 6-3. The team continued to work together well as John scored a penalty to further close the gap.
Croydon were playing aggressively and created more opportunities at this stage claiming a goal as a result, but Mark was not going to take this lying down and cooly put away a penalty (7-5).
Chris sprained his ankle from landing badly after a jump and was helped to the sidelines. We hope he has a speedy recovery. Croydon then scored a penalty and a shot, but the last goal was well taken by Simran! The final score was 9-6 in favour of Croydon.
Too bad! Croydon played tighter and more aggressively than us so that they could create more opportunities. However, we should be proud of the effort and hard work of Supernova – it was very clear to see that everyone is making progress each week.