Sunday 1st February 2015, Royal Russell
Report by Andy Cosstick
Supernova 4 made the trip down to Croydon for a return match against the Swans, hoping to make amends for SN4’s defeat a fortnight ago. For some it was their first time playing for Supernova, for others it was their first time experiencing the joys of the tram system. Even South London veterans like Marky P were unsure whether you need to touch out after alighting from the tram (you don’t).
On learning that the Royal Russell venue is one of the widest pitches that we play on, new girl Pippa decided this was the time to tell the team that she had only just recovered from completing a 10K that morning, and wasn’t looking forward to even more running around.
With a few minutes to go until kick-off it was apparent that SN4 would be a player down. Coach Eiti was saving herself for the firsts (!), and whilst the option was there to borrow a Swan, that would have meant a forfeit, thus SN4 elected to play short. Francis, Andy and Cat T were the short division, so that left Cat T to handle both of the lady Swans (apparently a female swan is called a pen – who knew?)
The Swans started ominously by scoring straight off the whistle; slotting in a cheeky drop-off. A minute later Andy plopped in a mid-range one to level things but Swans shortly returned the favour. Pippa’s run of running-in shot attempts eventually resulted in a penalty, which Marky P cooly converted to make it 2-2.
With the short division back in attack, it was clear that the Swans were going to make life difficult. Passing, not to mention shooting opportunities, were few and far between; and the lack of height (Francis, Andy, Cat T = avg 5’6″?) meant recycling the ball was tricky, despite Francis’ excellent work in collect. At the other end, Nicola and Pippa were doing sterling work running their girls but those goals proved elusive. Before we knew it, Swans had slotted in 6 goals – their speed against the short division was proving hard to combat. 8-2 at half time.
The second half was much closer. Francis and Andy were still having trouble keeping up with their boys – being one player down meant giving away the feed was inevitable, and so the running-in shots were sadly conceded. However, back in attack, Andy found his range and dropped in two more long shots, with Chris following suit shortly afterwards.
Swans responded with some more runners against the short division, but Andy replied with a runner and a mid-range one from the back of the court, to level the (second half) score. Sadly Swans sneaked one more in the last minute to make the 2nd half score 6-5. Boooo. But overall it was a respectable score-line considering we were a player down and comprised of a motley crew of korfers who haven’t played together frequently!
Team:
Francis, Andy (5), Cat T
Marky P (1), Chris B (1), Pippa M, Nicola P