Haslemere 3rd XI vs Yateley 3rd XI

Yateley's form coming into today's game has been exceptional even though results haven't reflected it. In previous years, Haslemere have always been a difficult team to topple away from home and evidently this was going to feel like another 6 pointer. Yateley started far the stronger of the two teams, having a large percentage of possession and isolating the opposition into their own half for the opening 20 minutes. However, after a reasonable time delay from umpire Phil Lott, who seemingly didn't know how to resolve his ticking issue, Yateley were prone to the odd counter attack and this paid dividends when the defence were pulled out of position, allowing the opposition to break free with a triple threat attack in at goal which was collectively finished. Ignition was fuelled into the Yateley bloodstream, determined to claw back this result that we truly deserved. The lead was quickly ended when a sharp break down the left by jim Boffin fired in a cross to forward Andy speed, who professionally dummied the ball through to Phil Cundy to lift over the diving gk, which deflected nicely at the feet of David woods to cooly reverse flick the ball into the net for the equaliser. Yateley were absolutely buzzing and sure enough another goal punished a lacklustre Haslemere, clearly unable to handle the unstoppable adrenaline the reds possessed. The goal came from nice link up play between Andy peace, Shane Cresswell and David woods to cut through the open spaces left in the opposition 25. Andy speed picked up the ball at the top of the D and cleverly manoeuvred it onto his reverse, effortlessly striking the ball into the bottom corner. Concentration and focus were the main points of discussion building up to the second half, simple hockey is all Yateley needed to do in order to take the victory today. Haslemere looked to have gained some momentum after the re-start when provided with a few cheap short corners, but the resilient defence stopped the opposition even getting a shot on goal largely thanks to the pace of James moor-bardell. Yateley continued to press opening the game right up, with attacks coming from both teams it was heating up nicely. Darren skinner became a little frustrated with the decision making late on in the half and let his lip do the talking resulting in the first card of the match, luckily for Yateley it was only a green. A persistent Haslemere were determined not to go home empty handed and used a rushing tactic to apply enough pressure on the defence to gain yet more short corners. The pivotal point in the match came late on when Yateley should have been awarded a P-flick when Andy Speed was bundle to the ground having a shot at goal, only for the umpire to award a short corner. Haslemere quickly distributed a fast counter attack to set up a short corner of their own, which looked destined for the bottom corner when a fantastic goal line stop by Lee Clark and Lee Cresswell deflected the ball round the post. With the lead still in Yateley's palms, a big push was needed to get past the final whistle. Lee Clark tried to 'live the dream' by taking the ball from his own D all the way up the field past 4 players into the opposition 25 later distributing it to Shane Cresswell, the man of the moment who had a splendid performance down the right wing, inviting more fear into the Haslemere hearts. As the time neared a close David Woods took it upon himself to run down the clock further by keeping the ball in the corner. Yateley forced a final short corner as the final whistle blew but were unable to convert the opportunity, never the less victory was ours and the better team thoroughly deserved the points.