9th Mar 2019 Mens 3rd v Tadcaster Magnets 1(Home) 4 - 2 win
An 'entertaining' match where Ben Rhydding played probably their best half of hockey to win the first half and then won ugly in a second half that failed to flow after keeper Pratt's sending off.
Despite a series of injuries and unavailability, the 3rds continued where they left off last weekend against 2nd placed Wakefield, this time against top of the table Tadcaster.
Some beautiful flowing hockey, tending to emanate from midfield talisman Hudson heaped the pressure on Tadcaster and we were soon rewarded with a short corner, cleverly won by Walsh and converted precisely by Hudson.
Tadcaster's tactic was to hit long balls through the middle to their highly skilled centre forward. Logan was alert to the danger and intercepted several of these passes, but on this occasion was turned by the forward who was then one on one with keeper Pratt. He moved the ball round Pratt who then at full stretch managed to bring him down. As we braced ourself for 1-1 after all our earlier pressure, the forward pushed the flick wide. Then a quick counter attack by Tadcaster culminated in a fierce shot that came back off the post and was cleared to safety.
At this point it felt like it was going to be our day and sure enough we regained control and as we surged forward, Hatton managed to find half a yard of space at the top of the D to unleash a trade mark reverse stick finish that rocketed precisely into the bottom left corner. Better was then to come as a beautiful short corner routine from Hudson to Horsman to Hudson to Sutherland was slotted home. 3-0 at half time.
Captain Higgitt urged the team for more of the same in the second half, but we started slowly and were disrupted when Rayner was green carded for kicking the ball away. (I was just passing the ball back to them complained Rayner but I think he's the only one who saw it that way). As Tadcaster continued to build the pressure, the Tadcaster centre forward received the ball in the D and Pratt decided to quickly slide out and clear the danger. Whilst he took the ball, he then followed through into the forward who was slayed. Decision: flick and yellow card. At this point Rayner was volunteered to go into goal and after a lengthy kit change, his first action was to pick the ball out of the net from the flick.
Whilst down to 10 men, Tadcaster continued to press though Ben Rhydding fought hard to repel them. Higgitt (who has never been sent off) tried his best to end this injustice and was lucky to escape sanction for another rash challenge on their centre forward. Just as Pratt was about to be allowed back on after 10 minutes on the naughty step, a Tadcaster short corner hit a ben Rhydding foot on the line and they were awarded their 3rd flick of the match. Another delay whilst we swapped goalkeeper kits and again they scored. 3-2.
Earlier in the season this is where we would have crumbled but we're made of sterner stuff now. We regained our composure and started playing our flowing hockey once again and built pressure. Elsworth reacted quickly to a loose ball in midfield and fed Cussons who ran half the arc of the D before finishing into the bottom right corner to make it 4-2 and to seal the victory.
As stated at the top, we've played some great hockey at times this season, but we also learned to dig in and see out the victory over the last couple of games. A great team performance all round. Hudson really should be named man of the match for an outstanding performance in the middle of the park, but Higgitt had already decided to award man of the match to Rayner, before the game started. He was unavailable to play, competing in a duathlon on Sunday, but made himself available "for a half" at the incessant begging of the captain, who then asked him to stay on the pitch at half time and deputise in goal whilst Pratt had a rest.
Big shout for young Rob Elsworth who played with calmed assuredness at right half and Barnaby Walsh who kept working and winning clever short corners on the left.
Finally, a big shout out to the umpires, our own wonderful Julia Carroll and the Tadcaster umpire who managed to keep control of a tough physical encounter.
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