18th Mar 2017 Mens 5th v Leeds Adel 5(Away) 3 - 3 draw
Rhydding arrived on a dreary day for their match with Adel 5, currently sitting 3rd in the league. Despite starting the week with 16 possible players, a combination of injuries, other commitments and one no-show meant we went onto the pitch with only 11 players; and three of them were nursing injuries (and for once, not all senior players).
None of that stopped us from playing what was probably one of our best games of the season.
Adel showed their class early on, gaining the majority of possession and challenging Paddy time and again. Despite that, a very solid defence and midfield kept slowing them down or thwarting them. Jack W and Tom Y showed a lot of class, frequently taking the ball from older Adel players and sending it forward. Jamie S distributed well at the top of the diamond, but the real star up front was Henry P - clearly totally wasted in goal, good though he is as a keeper - what an outfield player!
Rhydding kept breaking away, particularly up the left, and about 10 minutes into the game we got our first chance with a cross in from Tom Y to Killer Tindall who chipped it in. 1-0 to Rhydding.
Adel kept the pressure up and responded quickly with their own goal. 1-1. Despite only having 11 (so no subs) and legs tiring, each time Rhydding gained possession we broke hard and put their defence under pressure. It paid off with a cross in from the left, a shot on goal by David T which was cleared but then finished off by Abbott. 2-1. Just a few minutes later we got another chance, again with a shot from Tindall which was cleared but then put away by Abbott - however, their defence claimed the ball had touched David T�s foot and the umpire believed them, disallowing the goal, even though both Tindall and Abbott thought it had been good.
So we went into half time 2-1 up. We�d been playing great hockey but tiring, which meant the last 15 minutes had been going more Adel�s way - we were trying long passes rather than the receivers coming up to make the pass easy, and they were getting intercepted. The half time talk sorted that, and we came out with renewed purpose.
The second half settled down into good strong hockey from both teams. Bryan W, Rob J and (despite a knee injury playing up) Sam B were totally solid in defence. When Adel were attacking the midfield (and even the odd forward) all came back for support, and Johnnie in particular seemed to be everywhere on the pitch at once. Adel had a patch of several short corners but failed to convert any of them. Eventually, however, the pressure told and they lobbed a ball over Paddy�s head into the goal. 2-2.
That didn�t stop us. We built attack after attack. Tom Y kept pushing up deep into Adel�s half, and twice ended up one on one with their keeper but couldn�t quite finish, but then on another attack was awarded for his efforts with a fine goal. 3-2.
We settled down into the same back and forth. Then, down to only two minutes left, Rhydding got the ball again and pressed for another goal, but lost the ball to a rapid break by Adel which they converted with only 45 seconds to go! 3-3!
A great game, and such a shame that we couldn�t come back with a win.