Drew 0-0
MoM: Davis
DoD: Bean
With thanks to team sponsor M1 http://www.canterburyhockeyclub.co.uk/patrons
The men’s 1’s ventured down to Portsmouth to take on Havant, knowing it’s a tough place to go, it was always going to be a hard challenge.
With a few changes to the squad, Ambrose Davis made his first team and National League debut in goal, also taking home the MOM award!
Canterbury started well and quickly asserted their dominance with a few penalty corners and half chances in the first quarter with little coming from the home side.
It was much the same in the second quarter with Ambrose stepping up with a huge reactional save to keep the scores level. Although it was a rare chance at the Canterbury end, the Havant keepers day with quite the contrast and managed to maintain his net after a barrage of chances.
Going into the second half, corner after corner came and frustratingly, Canterbury couldn’t convert. Circle entries, shots, flicks all seemed to be aimed straight at the Havant keeper and we simply couldn’t find the net to maintain our 100% record!
Havant’s approach was to sit deep, throw aerials and hope one dropped to a stick, which late on, they managed to achieve but Craig Boyne threw in a diving block to stop the shot that no doubt would have been dangerous.
In Canterbury’s haste to win the ball back and try and find a goal, Bean found himself on the receiving end of a yellow after tackling too soon before he was five yards away, leaving a few squeaky bums in the final few minutes as the game played out to finish scoreless. This maintained the first team’s unbeaten start, however it does feel like a missed opportunity with the dominance and shear amount of chances made.
It was great to see so many CHC spectators down in Portsmouth and the support was definitely felt!
Still, it finishes off a good start to the season and with a weekend off next week, we hope to really press on with a huge game at home against second placed Teddington on Sunday 5th. See you there!