Match Reports
21/03/09
Trojans 1-4 Men's 2nd XI
Trojans 1 - Brighton & Hove 4
The newly crowned league champions travelled to Southampton looking to take another three points away from the bottom of the league side. As with recent weeks, the team only managed to get 11 players together for the fixture. Once again, the centre back position was a wild card selection and this week saw Jamie Morris fill the spot along side Dermot, Hacks and Luke.
After Luke asked all of us to enjoy the game between muffins and the obligatory tennis netball, the Brighton performance in the first half was disappointing to say the least. Poor ball speed, bad passing, giving the ball away and generally negative hockey from all the players was common place. During the half we had the move the formation about with Dan moving to bottom of the diamond, Ninja to left half and Alex to right forward. However Brighton still struggled and by the time we all managed to get into the goal at half time Brighton 2's for the first time in a while we 1 -0 down at half time, not good!
The second half performance was inspiring. Immediately after the huddle in front of the goal Dermot took it upon him to carry on the Brighton chant shouting until he went red in the face which we haven't seen for a while. Brighton immediately went on the attack and which a slick move between Dan Hore, Jamie and Ross (who decided to pass early), the ball was fired to the back post and unsurprisingly Oli P did the honours. From this moment on the overall hockey from improved with the ball speed increased and simply passes being executed by everyone. The rest of the half became a lot more enjoyable with the Dermot and Dan Hacking getting into the opposition D and creating chances. While Luke Williams and Jamie Morris tamed any attacks that Trojans posed upon the Brighton D.
The pressure Brighton created led to two more goals. The first was once of those where everyone missed bar Jamie Hendrix on the back post who couldn't believe his luck and tapped in from a yard out. The second was a rare dribble from the Ross 'The Show Boat' Hardwick who passed a couple of Trojan players and slotting in the rebound after an intial save from the keeper. After defending a couple late Trojan corners one of which produced a cracking save from Psycho, Brighton raced down to the pitch and Alex knocked in a pass from Ninja to make the final score 4-1. Overall it was an enjoyable second half and a comfortable win in the end for the unbeaten 2's.
Written by:
Si 'Ninja' Accott