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Mens 1st XI Vs Marden Russets Men's 1st XI
| Details | Players |
| Season: Season 2009-2010 Date: 03.10.2009 Time: 13:30 Team: Mens 1st XI Competition: League Location: Away Opponent: Marden Russets Men's 1st XI Our Score: 4 Opponent Score: 1 Result: Won |
Chris Sciandro - 0 Goal(s) James Godber - 0 Goal(s) Chris Wheeldon - 0 Goal(s) Rob Lowe - 0 Goal(s) Jimmy Pease - 0 Goal(s) Dan Ginnaw - 0 Goal(s) Michael Gubbins - 0 Goal(s) Matt Sewell - 0 Goal(s) David Beales - 0 Goal(s) Grant Sawyer - 2 Goal(s) Chris Marr - 1 Goal(s) Alex Warner - 1 Goal(s) Chris Lowin - 0 Goal(s) |
Match Report(s)
Saturday 3rd October.
Marden Russets 1 – 4 Worthing
Scorers: Warner, Sawyer (2), Marr.
After the disappointing end to last season, a re-vamped, new look Worthing 1st Team boasting no less than 5 league debutants (and notably only 4 players over 25) headed to Marden Russets for the opening league match – never an easy place to go. Having defeated the Kent side narrowly on both occasions last year, performing a snatch and grab away from home, we knew what to expect from a tough, physical and very direct outfit.
With Captain “Cylinders” Ansell left holding the babies and VC “Backache” Binns prostate in bed after a dramatic sneezing episode, it was left to “Stand-in” Sciandro to lead the troops out to the sand-pit after talking through the new 2-3-2-3 formation. After some mixed results but steady improvement in our pre-season friendlies, a further progression and more attacking threat was required.
Worthing began the game in strong, commanding fashion, dominating possession and putting the home side on the back-foot from the very first whistle. With Sawyer and Ginnaw’s movement and dynamism creating spaces in the midfield and Warner a constant option and threat on the overlap on the right hand side, the away side looked a constant threat going forward and Marden could not cope with the variety and speed of Worthing’s attacks although the early chances were not converted. After a period of sustained pressure with the home side pressed back in their D, Worthing had a series of 3 short corners in quick succession with Warner converting the third, dropping the “A bomb” in off the right hand post giving a much deserved lead for the visitors.
Rather than resting on their laurels, Worthing continued in the same vein with flowing, fluid passing and lots of unselfish running off the ball creating gaps for others to expose and this positive approach was rewarded when good work from the ever-industrious Mike “Gumbo” Gubbins fed Sawyer who picked the ball up from the right hand side of the D and unleashed an unstoppable pass (admitted by Sawyer himself afterwards!) into the bottom left hand corner….. 2-0.
With Sven “Go-nads” Godber and Jimmy “Easy” Peazy dealing comfortably with any attacks Marden did muster and Dave “Dangerous” Beales providing cover at left-back and no shortage of quality ball to the inside forwards and wingers, Worthing went into half-time well deserving of their two goal cushion. After some well chosen words from Cirdec “Coach-o” Atkinson, Worthing went into the second half prepared for a barrage of attacks from the home side who we knew would chase the game and were liable to leave themselves exposed to the counter attack.
As predicted, Marden came out more assertively than the first half, pushing an extra player upfront, pressing much further up the pitch and pressurising the back four. However, with Godber commanding the back line ably assisted by the Polish wonder and with Matt “Twins” Sewell brought in to inside left to secure things up and protect the back line, Worthing coped well with the pressure, using Warner as an outlet and building block for our counter attacks. After a series of promising breaks which went unconverted, some great work from Rob “Titch” Lowe, (a constant threat on the right wing) led to another short corner which was deflected in from the right-hand post by the irrepressible Sawyer.
At this point, the game became more stretched with Marden chasing the game and Worthing looking dangerous at the other end. However, the home side were given a lifeline when 1st Team debutant Chris “Whippersnapper” Wheeldon was harshly adjudged to have kicked the ball out at a dangerous height. From the resulting short corner, Marden converted with a right hand post deflection of their own and the game was back in the balance.
A scrappy period of ten minutes ensued with Marden applying continued pressure and the away side guilty of giving the ball away cheaply too often. However, to their credit and unlike many games last season, Worthing came through this sketchy spell without conceding and continued to create chances one of which led to Chris “Chunk-blower” Marr being stick tackled when bearing down on goal …. penalty flick. Marr was unfortunate to see his flick hit the post with the goalkeeper beaten but was given the opportunity to atone for the miss with a penalty corner just a few minutes later. The ball was pulled out short to the left hand side of the D as a variation to the straight strike and Marr unleashed an unstoppable shot which bobbled and bounced three times and over the goalkeeper before just about rolling over the goal-line!!
With the 3 goal cushion restored, Worthing were now able to relax and saw out the final few minutes comfortably, playing some great hockey in the process with “Laterals” Sciandro taking the opportunity to entertain the local crowd with some dance-floor dramatics in the centre circle for which he earned the prestigious WOW award!
Congratulations to all those involved, a great start to the season, a pleasing team performance and a platform to work on for the forthcoming weeks although still a long way to go yet! A special mention has to go to Chris Wheeldon for coming all the way to deepest, darkest Kent to help us out between the sticks, providing a much required level of calmness, experience and skill when called upon.
The Worthing bandwagon rolls on to St Andrews next Saturday against Blackheath with another big three points required.
Team: Wheeldon, Warner, Godber, Pease, Beales, Sciandro, Sawyer, Ginnaw, Gubbins, Marr, Lowe. Subs: Lowin, Sewell
MOM & WOW - Sciandro
