Mens 1st vs Bishop Stortford 1st

Cambridge Nomads 1st XI 3 – 4 Bishop’s Stortford 1st XI

Saturday 18 November 2017

Played at Coldham’s

Scorers: Martin Hamon 2 & Jack Franklin

Man of the Match: Joe Phillips

Stortford Snatch Victory from the Knee of Woodhead

After an important but scrappy point at the Olympic Park last week, the stickmen were keen to put in a good performance at home against a team that had one point more than Cambridge Nomads leading into the game. Cambridge Nomads welcomed back James Willington back from injury as well as Jack Franklin, Sam Walker-Farrant and Will Charlton back after missing the previous week.

With these players back in the line up they started brightly and moved the ball with purpose, but Bishop’s Stortford were looking to be direct with their passing from the back and they were channels to force the ball in to. Indeed the first goal came from a Bishop’s Stortford sixteen that ended up in a Bishop’s Stortford goal in less than ten seconds.

Cambridge Nomads seemed to learn from this quickly as they closed up the channels down the middle and created more turnovers for themselves in dangerous areas. The equaliser came from one such interception that forced the ball down the right had side into the corner where the ball was crossed into the D, where Martin Hamon was able to get enough of a stick on the ball to deflect the ball into the goal.

Cambridge Nomads extended their lead 10 minutes later after a Bishop’s Stortford pass from the back was intercepted between the half way line and the D, where Sam Walker Farrant fired the ball into the D. Martin Hamon moved to the left hand side of the D into the path of Jack Franklin who flicked it past the goalkeeper and make the score 2-1.

Moments later Stortford made a similar pass into midfield which was picked off. This time the ball was passed into the path of Martin Hammon outside the D who used his pace to get in front of the last defended and hammer the ball into the corner of the goal and a 3-1 lead.

With two minutes to go in the first half Andrew Woodhead tried to hurdle a Bishop’s Stortford player who was on the ground and made contact with the Stortford players’ head with his knee. This accident stopped the game for thirty minutes while the Stortford player could be treated. He eventually went to hospital and the game continued until the half time whistle went. There were no reports on how the Bishop’s Stortford player was but we hope he is well.

With a very short half time break it was Bishop’s Stortford who halved the lead in the opening five minutes with a short corner. Both teams had their chances in the second half but it was Cambridge Nomads who created the more clear-cut opportunities from open play. The final pass, or the final touch, was not quite good enough to convert this pressure into a goal.

With the game in balance it was Bishop’s Stortford who equalised through a penalty flick when Andrew Woodhead stopped the ball from going into the goal while on the floor. Woodhead was given a green card and the game was now level.

Bishop’s Stortford were beginning to look threatening, particularly from penalty corners and with five minutes to go they converted a short corner to lead for the first time since taking the lead in the opening exchanges of the game. They were able to hold on to their lead despite Nomads throwing everything they had left at their defence.

This was a difficult pill to swallow having lead for most of the game and having been 3-1 up at half time. There were plenty of positives to come out of the game and if the squad can learn from the mistakes and focus on areas of their game that are letting them down then they will certainly pick up between 6 and 9 points before the Christmas break.