M1s want future matches to end after 60 minutes

Wise words by the captain about the propensity of London teams to play well in London inspired Nomads to dominate the opening 15-20mins of the game inside the Lee Valley National Stadium in front of a record crowd consisting mostly of Lloydy. Numerous pressing interceptions by the midfield and some darting forward runs led to some good early chances which unfortunately fell to nothing. Eventually Nomads got their penalty corners and while the first was used to give the opposition a chance to score, Nomads converted the second through Martin with a flick to the corner flag which was kindly deflected into their own goal by a Crostyx defender.

After 20minutes, Crostyx managed to put more pressure on Nomads ball carriers and won balls themselves in midfield which allowed some runs at the Cambridge defence and resulted in the first Crostyx penalty corners with some good defending and goalkeeping standing in the way of an equaliser.

The 2nd half started like the first with momentum by Nomads but soon Crostyx started dominating the game and gaining numerous opportunities through penalty corners although the Nomads defence was able to prevent the opposition from having any good chances from open play and Nomads continued to be a real threat on the break.

But giving away too many penalty corners eventually resulted in 1-1 with Nomads unable to clear their lines following the initial shot and one of the rebounds being put through Ethan's legs at close range for the goal.

Crostyx were now smelling blood and going for the kill. However, Nomads were able to use their best weapon against them. After a Crostyx penalty corner, the ball was cleared to the half way line, where Moritz went on a sublime run leaving 3 defenders looking very sheepish in his wake and then proceeding to also make the goalkeeper look rather ordinary and slotting home the 2-1 in calm coolness into the corner. This and a lot of other similar runs and some excellent tackling won him the MoM award.

The other award of the day unfortunately went to Martin who managed to get himself yellow-carded for a shoulder charge 8 minutes before the end. While Nomads were able to withstand the pressure for 5 minutes until he was back on the pitch Crostyx scored the 2-2 equaliser 1 minute before the end through another rebound from a penalty corner which left Nomads rueing 2 points snatched away at the end of the game for the 2nd week in a row.

On the plus side, against a determined opposition who had a lot of penalty corners awarded, Nomads showed some dogged defending and played some good hockey in various patches throughout the game.

Sitting just 1 point and 1 place above the relegation zone and a little short of the 30 point pace needed to avoid relegation (Ed: guess the author? )having only played one of the top 6 teams so far, Nomads go into a crucial 3 week period playing only top 4 teams. After that their Div1 destiny should be quite a bit clearer...