5th Team Vs Leek 5

Date 7 October 2017
Team 5th Team
Opposition Leek 5
Fixture Home
Venue Wolverhampton Grammar School
Start time 00:00
Result L 2 - 3
Time played
Scorers
Match Report

The 5ths asembled for their first game of the season, fortunate to have in their number the Club Development Officer as the only person there who knew all of the players. Introductions completed the much revised line up when compared to last season set out to play Leek 5ths, who had the advantage of already having played several friendly games together.

The players worked hard - sometimes too hard, chasing / following the ball, but succeeded in keeping Leek on the back foot; this pressure led to a penalty corner that Martin Jandu converted with a clean strike just inside the left post and soon afterwards Adam Tustin went on a mazy run around the Leek defence to score a second to put 5th 2 - 0 up at half time.

Leek reorganised and pressed straight from the restart. Their reward was an individual goal from one of their young players who demonstrated considerable skill in rounding several defenders before passing the ball into the goal. Leek continued to press and 5ths let their positional discipline slip and continued to follow the ball too much. Leek scored a second from a dirtect strike from a penalty corner, and their third was tapped in by an unmarked player when our positional lapses and ball watching caught us out. Leek also hit the post from a shot in open play.

The game ended with Leek ahead 3 - 2 which was a fair result given their better team play. 5th's peformance was good considering we had two players who had not played league hockey before, one of whom was making his Club debut; and we had not played together (or in many cases even met each other) before the game. From a Club perspective the number of young players in the team bodes well for future development, and they all showed ability and promise during the game.

A tough one next week - local derby 'away' against our 6ths.......

Name Squad number Position Scored Assists Cards