17th Nov 2018 Mens 5th v Bradford 3(Home) 2 - 1 win
Ben Rhydding 2 Bradford 1
Captain David Abbott took his 5th team to another fine victory, and after Rhydding dropping the team from league hockey last year the team this year looks to have more purpose, commitment and dedication since it�s reformation.
Rhydding scored within 3 minutes, an excellent pass from Ian Shutt to David Tindall who scored an excellent reverse stick goal. However Bradford from them on really turned on the heat, trying desperately to get on level terms. Carl Mawson, whose defending gets better by the week, made a crucial goal line save and Jacob Smithson again had an outstanding game in goal.
The first half turned into a very fast game, the second half surely not the same tempo, so Rhydding had to adjust their play to maintain the lead which they did bringing Max Bradley into a deeper midfield role. The defence of Robert Jackson and Johnnie Roughton distributed well and combined very well to keep out several attacks from the home teams goal line. A superb second goal was created when David Abbott played an excellent reverse stick ball into Tindall to make it 2-0. This resulted in Bradford even more determined and they did eventually score their goal but the 5th team held out comfortably to the final whistle.
A great result for David�s team, well umpired by Roger Bickley and Scott Wardle.
Looking ahead the 5th team need to have a better understanding in midfield with their positioning, they need to make the diamond formation work correctly- at times there were some major gaps appearing when all 4 midfield players were up in attack leaving gaps, this was sorted in the second half and it allowed more space for Johnny Till and Dave Tindall to be more affective, and they were.
Man of the Match goes to Carl Mawson.
Thanks for Johnnie for the match report.