England Hockey Men’s Masters Plate Round 3

28.2.10

 

Huddersfield Dragons 2 (2)  v  Charnwood Mountsorrel 2 (0) 

(4 - 3 APS)

 

Charnwood Mountsorrel exited the Masters Plate at the last-16 stage after losing to Huddersfield Dragons following a close penalty stroke shoot-out.

 

This fixture was re-arranged after snow had caused it to be postponed on the previous weekend.  It was Charnwood who set the tone for the match in the early stages, dominating possession and creating several chances which they were unable to convert.  Mark Weaver was twice unlucky with shots fired just wide and Steve Fairbrother was denied by the Huddersfield goalkeeper.  It was the home team who scored first, from their first serious attack, as they worked the ball nicely into the circle and finished convincingly.  Charnwood pressed again, but were unable to turn their possession into goals, despite having several penalty corners.  Just before half-time, Huddersfield doubled their advantage when a scramble in the visitors circle was not properly cleared and ‘keeper Mick Barlow was unable to deny the Dragon’s attack.

 

Charnwood re-grouped during the break and continued where they had left off, pinning the Dragons in their own half for long periods.  It was Tony Kirk who got one back for the visitors, finishing expertly on his reverse side at close range following smart work by Fairbrother at a penalty corner.  With the defence untroubled, Charnwood piled on the pressure, winning several more penalty corners - it was from one of these that Ross Merrick scored from a slip-left move to level the scores.  Shortly afterwards, Merrick had a goal disallowed from another penalty corner, as his slap into the roof of the net was deemed the first hit at goal.

 

The home side defended stoutly, making vital tackles and clearances to keep Charnwood at bay.  The visitor’s midfield of Merrick, Ravi Matharu, Mark Taylor, Kevin Stanton-King and skipper Chris Waterfield pulled the strings throughout the match, maintaining the pressure and creating chances, but it wasn’t to be – the final whistle brought relief to the Dragons.

 

Charnwood got off to the worst possible start in the penalty stroke competition, as both Waterfield and Merrick had their strokes saved and the visitors found themselves 3-0 down.   Stanton-King converted to keep the game alive, Barlow saved the home side’s next stroke, then Taylor netted, before Barlow kept out the Dragon’s last stroke.  Fairbrother stayed cool to finish expertly to the keeper’s left to make it 3-3 – a great comeback which took the tie into a sudden-death competition.  Unfortunately, Barlow was unable to repeat his heroics on the first stroke and the Dragon’s keeper kept out Fairbrother‘s stroke to give the home side a fortuitous victory.

 

 

Charnwood will rue this defeat, but the game is all about scoring goals and, on the day, they could not convert their superiority into clinical finishing.

 

 

Squad:

Mick Barlow (GK), Dave Allen, Nigel Calow, Paul Carter, Steve Fairbrother, Tony Kirk, Ravi Matharu, Ross Merrick, Kevin Stanton-King, Mark Taylor, Chris Waterfield (c), Mark Weaver.