Men’s Hockey 12th Feb 2006

Charnwood Mountsorrel Veterans – National Plate competition

 

 

Lincoln’s In

 

A well-drilled Lincoln side ended the National Plate ambitions of Charnwood Mountsorrel Men’s veterans at Soar Valley on 12th February.  The second round encounter finished 2-0 to the visitors.

 

From the outset it was clear that the early morning journey hadn’t impacted the travelling side.  Lincoln were quickly into their stride and played some excellent hockey from the push-back.  Their midfield and defensive units were fit and fast, and moved the ball wide at pace to build numerous early attacks.  

 

Charnwood found themselves under intense pressure for much of the first half, a situation which was compounded by a tendency to give away too much hard-won ball.  An (age-related) injury to Ross Merrick, within the first few minutes, saw him hobble off with a limp.  Nothing new, according to Mrs Merrick, but it gave Charnwood’s midfield still more to worry about.

 

Despite constant pressure, Lincoln struggled to make many clear open-play opportunities.  Much of this was down to some heroic defending from Charnwood’s back line – Graham Wolloff leading by example. 

 

Inevitably though, a short corner broke the deadlock after 10 minutes.  Lincoln switched the ball out right and converted at short range from the resulting cross back in.  A few minutes later another short corner saw the visitors go two up, this time from a horrible deflection.  From the strike, Mick Barlow pushed the ball comfortably wide to his right, only to see it rebound in off the legs of an unlucky Wolloff.

 

The rest of the first half was a war of attrition with Charnwood soaking up pressure and trying, unsuccessfully, to release their strikers on the break.

 

A half-time rocket from captain Chris Waterfield resulted in a better second half performance from the home side.  Charnwood kept far more possession and started to build attacks through its capable and hard-working midfield.  New squad members Raoul Mercer and Phil Boswell performed particularly well.

 

Unlike the first period, Charnwood actually started to create a few openings, including a string of well-saved short corners.  Gary Mason came nearest, from open play, with an impressive headlong dive at a loose ball.  Had he not dived over the ball it would have been even more impressive.  And late on Russ Seton shot slightly wide from an incredibly tight angle after brilliantly rounding sweeper and keeper.

 

On the day, Lincoln deserved the victory.  But Charnwood were left regretting a below-par first half and wondering what might have been had they performed for the full 70 minutes!

 

The team next turns out on May 6th, at Groby, against Stoke Golding’s Simon Moralee XI.

 

Squad:

 

Mick Barlow, Wayne Henderson, Graham Wolloff, Ed Allen, Tony McKee, Paul Carter, Tony Kirk, Gary Mason, Raoul Mercer, Chris Waterfield, Phil Boswell, Dave Allen, Ross Merrick, Kevin Stanton-King, Russ Seton