19th October 2014 at Trinity School, Croydon
Report by Mark Paxton
After last week’s comfortable home win over Croydon 4, the fourths ventured into deepest Croydon to take on Trojans 3. Task number 1 was for the team to get to Trinity School which was successfully achieved – much better than the “hang on – this station is Gatwick Airport” third teamer incident last year. The fourths were in time to watch national champions Trojans 1 beat Tornadoes in the preceding game.
Trojans 3 were a mixture of experienced players and promising youngsters. The fourths struggled a bit in the first half doing well to keep the ball moving but struggling to get good collect positions. Fortunately, the defence held firm so at half-time, we were only 2-1 down with Matt scoring our goal.
Time for some magic words from Neil and Eiti…
As the teams set out again for the second half, Matt was heard to ask “Am I still in defence?” Good news for him was that the second half was a goalfest. Sarah threw a rocket pass from the side of the court to John who tucked in a one-handed running-in shot. One of those “did that just happen?” goals especially as John had been up until 5am the night before. We traded goals with Trojans – John got another two while both Andy and Matt scored and we were 6-4 up! Trojans battled back to 6-6 before Andy scored another running-in shot. Could we hang on? Sadly, no – Trojans equalised and it ended 7-7. It was a fantastic second half.
Well done to everyone especially Leanne, Simran and Beth who all made their club debuts. The fourths are now top of the London Division 3A! Croydon 5 away are next.
Girls
Beth Roche, Simran Mahtani, Leanne Uden, Sarah Halpin
Boys
John Coughlan (3), Joe Carroll (C), Andy Cosstick (2), Matt Snelgar (2)