2nds Take A Big Defeat

Worcester 2s travelled to Harborne for a game that would be their toughest opposition to date. Harborne who took all 6 points from the previous 2 games were soon on top in the opening exchanges and Worcester found it hard to get hold of the ball for any more than 2 or 3 passes at a time. Tom Dalton who had already been called in to action a number of times had to make a series of saves and did so to keep the score 0-0. As the game went on Worcester had the odd period of possession but it was Harborne who continued to dominate the majority of play. With the first half coming to a close Harborne were able to capitalise on their possession and take the lead with a scrappy goal that really should have been cleared by 2 or 3 Worcester players before it got anywhere near the Worcester goal.

Harborne soon doubled their lead with yet another scrappy goal with the ball bouncing around again a half stop by a Worcester defence and the ball fell kindly to the Harborne forward for a simple tap in. This took Harborne in to the half time break 2-0 up.

The second half started and in much the same vein of the 1st half Harborne dominating the possession as the half went on Worcester seemed to raise their level and Hooper stole the ball from the Harborne Left back who found Ollie Ranscombe free on the top of the D. Ollie collected the ball and drove in to the D. Ollie made this look a lot more difficult than it should have been with a couple of touches that looked like he was holding his cricket bat rather than a hockey stick. Ollie was able to regain his balance and control of the ball and play a superb pass on his reverse across the D to Kanye Hood who tapped in with ease.

Worcester seemed to gain confidence from this goal & continued to push the Harborne team back in to their own half this pressure nearly paid off with a couple of good chance that were unable to be converted. As Worcester pressed for the equaliser they were hit with a quick turnover and Harborne flew up the pitch with a series of passes which gave them a tap in to make it 3-1.
As the Worcester team pressed to get back in the game the Harborne team managed to hit Worcester on the counter attack a number of times and with Dalton making save after save to keep the game alive.

Harborne then manged to get a 4th goal from a short corner. Dalton had produced a fantastic save from the first time short. The ball bounced out to the injector and Dalton who had already got back to his feet made another great save. As Hooper and Ranscombe ran back to support, Hooper said that’s man of the match for those 2 saves alone and by the time the sentence was finished Harborne slotted in a miss-hit shot from the P spot. As Hooper and Ranscombe arrived to support the defence. Hooper added and that’s DOTD for letting that one in. Ranscombe laughed and said “that’s a bit harsh…. but very fair.”

Harborne put the game to bed soon after by scoring their 5 goal to make the game 5-1 at the close.

The 2nds voted on the man of the match and D of the day. The man of the match was Tom Dalton who completely deserved this award as he made a number of quality saves to keep the Harborne attack to only 5 goals.
The D of the day award was a little more difficult to pick but the team soon realised that there was only 1 candidate and for letting 5 goals in….. Tom Dalton also claimed this trophy too. This really is an honour to win both awards in the same game. He is now in a very select group. Well done Tom Dalton!