Mens 2nd XI
Matches
Sat 19 Oct 2019  ·  Division 4NW
Kettering 2
3
2
Cambridge Nomads Hockey Club
Mens 2nd XI
Nomads Twos overtaken by Kettering in the final minutes

Nomads Twos overtaken by Kettering in the final minutes

Arthur Meadows23 Oct 2019 - 15:54
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Kettering’s 14 men claw back against Nomads’ bare 11 to win 3-2

Going Dutch, and a half of two quarters
Match report thanks to Morty
Nomads Twos once again braved the infamous orange Dutch-replica, kit on a visit to Kettering, hopeful of backing up last week’s excellent performance with their first away win of the season.

Alas it was not to be. This despite a rampant opening quarter where Nomads pressed high, passed crisply and found themselves two goals up in no time at all.

The first came from that press again – with Paul ripping the ball from a surprised Kettering defender, and firing a cross to Mel who guided it skilfully, first time, into the corner. For the second game in a row, Nomads were a goal up within minutes, perhaps seconds, of the start. We like this new and somewhat surprising trait.

The second came soon after from a crisp direct passage of play through midfield: Gianluca deflected a pass to Dom who broke a tackle and charged towards goal. His pass found Mel on the back line who passed onto Paul on the P spot to deflect the ball round the keeper.

More pressure yielded a couple more chances for Nomads that, critically it turns out, weren’t accepted, and the Kettering ‘keeper was able to stand firm.

Slowly Kettering started to put together some dangerous hockey, and Nomads were in retreat. A poorly defended long corner led to an unopposed shot, which deflected past John into the corner, and not long before the half time whistle a well-executed short corner drag flick evened up the tally, and completed an eventful first half of two distinct quarters.

The Nomads 11 re-jigged a little at half time to manage some ageing legs, but the lack of any replacements started to tell on those not-so-young Nomads, and the spaces and passes that were found in that opening half didn’t seem as easy to find as the game progressed.

There were still moments, but there were also lots of defending short corners. And I mean lots. Every time Kettering got near Nomads D, Nomads found new and innovative ways to provide them with another go at practising their routines. Fortunately most of them were rubbish. But eventually one had to work, and with less than 10 minutes to go, one finally found its way past the valiant last line of defence.

Mutu and John (sometimes painfully) repelled a lot of attacks, and in truth, Nomads could hardly complain at the final 3-2 result. There were a couple of promising attacks, one of which ended with Paul upended as he ran in on goal. The reaction led to a yellow for our veteran centre-forward and the rather poor short corner that followed seemed like scant reward for our most promising moment of the half.

In summary, a battling rather than fluid performance, which nearly yielded a point, but the best team on the day won, and the search for an orange league win goes on.

Match details

Match date

Sat 19 Oct 2019

Kickoff

14:30

Meet time

12:30

Instructions

Meet at the Ol' Squash club on Histon Road and Carisbrook Road:
https://goo.gl/maps/FykTRo74ZzbYu1Go8

Competition

Division 4NW
Team overview
Further reading

Team Sponsors

Kit Supplier - Mr Cricket Hockey
Physiotherapy - Injury active