Expected, but it still hurts...

COWHC 3s 0-6 Epsom 6s

25th January 2014

Match Report

In some ways it's a bit of a shame that we've started both halves of the season against the teams that are the strongest in the league by quite a way.  Yes, it gives us the chance to gain some match fitness without really expecting anything out of the match, but it's still demoralising to have two pretty heavy defeats in a row.

With Martin stepping into Paul's spot in goal for the week we lined up with what looked to be a pretty strong team.  But it quickly became apparent that, for whatever reason, we weren't on our game, and against a team like Epsom 6s you need to be operating at close to top level.  They have a couple of very skilful older guys in the middle who control everything and seem to have Inspector Gadget-like arms as nothing is beyond their reach!  Around them they have a couple of kids who are also skilful and, crucially, quick.

We were under pressure pretty much from the start, not helping ourselves with some poor distribution.  We kept them out for a little while, and they were just beginning to get frustrated when they made the breakthrough that settled them down again.  One of the youngsters collected the ball towards the top left of the D and made space for himself with a sharp turn inside.  That put him one on one with Martin and, unfortunately for us, he found the gap between keeper and post and scored.

Goals two and three are a bit hazy.  I seem to recall that one was a solo effort by one of the central midfielders, while the other stemmed from a flowing move that ended with someone free in the middle of the D able to tuck the ball home.

There were some harsh-ish words at half time in an attempt to get us to start playing as we can.  The second half was a bit more open and we were able to have have some possession in the Epsom half and even into their 25.  However despite some strong running from Trevor, Andrew and Alex in particular, we just couldn't make any headway.

Needless to say Epsom were somewhat more ruthless, although their fourth goal had an element of fortune about it.  The shot from a short corner was miss-hit, maybe took a slight deflection too, bobbled, skipped, somehow found its way through Martin and John on the line and dropped apologetically against the backboard.

The fifth was again from a short, although a well worked one as they played the ball round the two runners and back into someone on the spot who finished well.  And finally number 6, which was another solo run by one of their older players who struck a rising shot that Martin managed to get his stick to.  Unfortunately it was one of those days, and the ball dropped down with still just enough pace to make it over the line.

POM went to skipper Mike Dawson, for chasing the same shadows as the rest of us but managing to get a bit closer to them!