Press Release

 

Men’s Hockey – Veterans National Plate Competition

 

Charnwood Mountsorrel: 5  -  4   Kingswinford

 

 

Charnwood Mountsorrel veterans edged into the second round of the National Plate competition on Sunday (14^th Jan).  But their 5-4 victory over Midlands outfit Kingswinford was unnecessarily tense.

 

For the first fifteen minutes of the game, Charnwood took complete control.  There were few incidents to trouble Mick Barlow in goal, and the Charnwood attack opened up their opponents, seemingly at will. No surprise then, when Mark Weaver opened the scoring with a thundering first time strike from Kevin Stanton-King’s perfect cross.

 

Two minutes later and substitute Gary Mason ran on to the pitch and straight to the far post where he slotted in with his first touch. After twenty minutes Paddy Oakman ensured a memorable debut with the Veterans. He latched on to a well-weighted ball from fellow new-boy Sandy Dickie, turned his defender and finished clinically with a reverse stick shot low to the keeper’s right.

 

Perhaps complacency or mince-pie poisoning set in at this point, because the last fifteen minutes of the first period were all Kingswinford.  The visitors began to take hold of midfield and used their impressive individual skills, if not pace, to open up Charnwood’s back line from the right.  Several times Charnwood soaked up initial pressure but then failed to clear convincingly. 

 

Inevitably the bombardment produced results; a goalmouth scramble resulted in a penalty flick when a bobbling shot struck a Charnwood foot on the line. But the visitors failed to take advantage, placing the flick just outside the left hand post.  A few minutes later, however, and they had the chance to make amends. Charnwood failed to clear their ranks and again a goal-bound half-shot struck a defender.  This time the flick was converted, though barely making it across the line after Barlow got his outstretched legs to the low ball.

 

The second half continued with Charnwood putting themselves under pressure.  Too much ball was given away moving out of defence and not enough made of the space available to the home strikers.  And when it was, several good chances went unconverted. Kingswinford pulled another goal back from a short corner after an easy clearance was gifted back to the attacking team.

 

Charnwood’s two goal advantage was restored almost immediately, however.  A solid ring round a Kingswinford 16 hit allowed skipper Chris Waterfield to intercept and feed Russ Seton at the top of the opposition D. Seton rounded the last defender and finished comfortably to the keeper’s left.

 

The Leicestershire outfit then appeared to wrap things up when Kevin Stanton-King added a fifth, pouncing on a rebound from a Seton short corner flick.

 

Kingswinford weren’t finished, though.  And Charnwood seemed happy to help them out whenever possible. Another mazy run from the visitor’s skilful centre-half saw the ball fired into the home D, where it pin-balled around until stabbed into the net from short range. With just 5 minutes to go the Midlands crew added a hotly disputed fourth. A lifted ball into the D, several apparent obstructions on the home keeper, and a visiting foot all went unnoticed before Kingswinford slammed home from a yard out. It all made for a tense final few minutes, but Charnwood were able to hold out, utter prayers of thanks for the missed penalty, and progress into the second round.

 

 

Squad:

Mick Barlow, Paul Carter, Ed Allen, Dave Allen, Tony McKee, Tony Kirk, Gary Mason, Ross Merrick, Kevin Stanton-King, Mark Taylor, Chris Waterfield, Sandy Dickie, Paddy Oakman, Russ Seton, Mark Weaver.