By Harry Low/John Coughlan
Supernova’s first team came tantalisingly close to back-to-back wins as they succumbed to one-goal defeat against Croydon 2 for the second time in 4 weeks.
In the early stages both divisions seemed settled and balanced, putting up some well-crafted shots and working hard to stifle the Croydon attack. Ingmar and Sian were the first to score for Supernova before a penalty from Jamie made it 3-3.
In a recent run of rich scoring form, Sian scored twice more in the first half to complete a hatrick, either side of Ingmar’s second of the afternoon, to make it 9-6 before Stu scored his seventh goal since joining the club with a trademark penalty.
Croydon sunk some great shots to go 11-7 in front just before half time. However, following a well called time out from Captain Anke, the visitors fought back either side of the half time whistle with five unanswered goals to lead 12-11 as Stu scored three more times and Anke twice.
25 minutes left on the clock, all to play for; at no point for the rest of the match did either side lead by more than two goals.
Ingmar scored his third and fourth goals of the game as Supernova led 14-12 but Croydon came back again to level the scores at 14-14. Supernova and Croydon proceeded to trade goal for goal, to roars of delight from their respective supporters.
A Shalcrow/Shalpin one-two resulted in the latter scoring her third goal of the season for the first team to make it 16-15 before Jamie and Anke, with her hatrick goal, put the visitors two goals ahead. Ingmar completed a superb double hatrick with 5 minutes play to make it 19-18, promising a tight close to the game.
Tight it was. Sarah responded to another Croydon equaliser to keep Nova in front 20-19. It was at this moment that Sarah’s travelling fan, witnessing his first game of korfball, described the game as ‘less dorky than he was expecting’. High praise indeed from Mr Shalpin.
Two late Croydon goals, including a superb final goal from ‘downtown’, proved pivotal as they sneaked past Supernova and denied the visitors their second win of the season. Final score 20-21 to Croydon.
A great performance and season high scoring game from Supernova 1 will give confidence going into a match against Trojans 2 before the Christmas break. The result means Supernova 1 remain eighth, while Croydon 2 rise to fifth.