Lost 5-4
Scorers: Tweedie x3 ,Brown-Lea
MoM: Tweedie
DoD: Kitson
With thanks to team sponsor M1 http://www.canterburyhockeyclub.co.uk/patrons
Another top-of-the-table battle this weekend, however this time the lads were away in the London Borough of Richmond Upon Thames. Due to the long journey and a number of late arrivals, most notably myself who turned up 15 minutes into the team chat (I’m sorry), the energy wasn’t as high as it could have been. Both teams stood for the two minutes silence and then the start whistle was blown.
Despite the low energy to begin with, Canterbury started with a full offensive, pushing the Richmond team into their own quarter. The Canterbury attack was relentless and in the 5th minute a bouncing pass made its way into the D which was superbly deflected into the back of the net by Jacob Tweedie to put the CHC up 1-0.
However this momentum didn’t last for long as 2 minutes later Richmond scored a penalty corner and began pressing hard putting CHC on the defensive. This carried on into the second quarter where Richmond scored a field goal and a questionable penalty stroke to put the opposition up 3-1 at half time. However this score line could have been much larger if it weren’t for some great saves from GK Chris Rea and a number of crucial clearances from the Canterbury defence, against a bombardment of penalty corners.
Moving into the Third quarter, after an empowering team talk from coach Ali Brogden, the boys started off with a fighting spirit as another early goal from Jacob Tweedie put the score at 3-2 in the 38th minute. This determination to get back into the game continued on as the Canterbury side dominated the midfield to eventually win their first and only penalty corner of the match just 10 minutes later. This was rounded off by a beautifully placed drag-flick by striker Callum Brown-Lea to even the score at 3-3. Despite dominating the majority of the quarter the CHC side conceded an unfortunate penalty corner on the last play of the quarter.
But this goal did not break the team’s spirit as they headed into the final quarter. Jacob Tweedie was on fire as he yet again netted a field goal within 2 minutes of the quarter starting to complete his hat trick and grant him the day’s Man of the Match.
At 4-4 the competition was tough especially as the Umpires began to use their cards with a green card going to Craig Boyne in the 57th minute and another green going to an opposition player in the 61st minute. However, despite numerous attempts and a great defensive effort from the Canterbury side neither team were able to capitalise on the man advantage. With the game looking like it could go either way disaster struck in the 66th minute as a Counter from the Richmond team lead to an unfortunate goal in the last minutes of the match to end the game in a tough 5-4 loss.
Unfortunately this marks the end of the 1st XI’s unbeaten streak and has allowed Richmond to take the lead by 3points. However I know the team will strive to regain and maintain our top of the table position for the remainder of the season to complete our goal of promotion.