Match Reports
16/11/08
Cambridge 2-3 Men's 2nd XI
With the 2’s now sitting pretty on top of the league table, hopes and expectations were high as we strode out onto the park to face Cambridge in the 3rd round of the HA Trophy. Well, most of us strode out on the pitch. How a team that was once so young and sprightly has fallen; Alan McGuinness was confined to shouting from the touchline with 2 sprained ankles, Jamie Hendricks strapping for his thumb gets more and more unusual every week, Lukey looked like he needed a wheelchair by the end and we had oxygen on stand by for Dan Hacking from the 10th minute. A special mention goes to Llyody who made it up on time and then promptly fell asleep somewhere only re-emerging when the game was just underway.
With all that said and done, the match got under way with Brighton being cheered on by a great crowd. The first 30 seconds saw Mooney sprinting forward into their D with great purpose where he unfortunately became a bit confused and it came to nothing (this confusion seemed to extend to which shirts his team-mates were playing in... but only twice apparently!). Brighton’s early dominance slowly waned away however as Cambridge came more and more into the game. So it came to half time with the sides level after some decisive keeping work by Dave.
The 2nd half saw Brighton come out and play the way that we know we can. Hore started to boss the center of the park with Olly, Llyod and Mike finding cracks in the Cambridge defence. The first goal came from a short corner where a crisp strike from Hore at the top of the D, which looked to be going a good 5 yards wide, took a wild deflection to end up in the back of the net.
Brighton now had the bit between their teeth and a beautiful one two by Ross (be careful, you’re making a habit out of this passing thing!) ended up with Mike in the center of the D. Under pressure from the goalie Mike kept his head and topped a great move with a great finish.
Thinking the game was now wrapped up, Brighton took their foot of the accelerator and with only 10 minutes to go let Cambridge back into the game. Scoring 2 goals in 5 minutes, the scores were tied and we were heading for extra time.
A quick turnaround and we were underway. Brighton, buoyed on by the crowd, came out all guns blazing and forced a short corner within the 1st 5 minutes. A well-rehearsed short corner routine saw Ross slotting the ball home. The wind was now out of the Cambridge sails; Brighton played possession hockey and managed to close out the game convincingly with some good skills by Ross in the corner of the park eating up time as well as Hore (yes, i did say Hore and skills in the same sentence).
So 3-2 the final score with Richmond away the opposition in the quarters. A nice easy train journey and hopefully a great day out so stick it in your diaries: 01/02/09