Mens 3 vs Kettering 2

On yet another sunny and mild afternoon St Ives 3s got ready for a match against Kettering 2s. With the normal pre-game traditions out of the way, including the now normal wait for Isaac Morgan to show up 20 minutes late, the team was buzzing for another good game of hockey.

As discussed ahead of the game, St Ives started the game with some good positional play and good combinations around the pitch. This put the Kettering side under pressure and soon the first chances came and went without any goals. Kettering also had a couple of chances on counters, but at the end of the first half the score still was 0-0.

Half-time chat and jelly babies were all positive and St Ives was convinced that they could bring the game to a positive close.

With that attitude, the pressure was quickly back on the Kettering side and the St Ives defense stayed aware of the Kettering counterattacks. The deadlock finally broke after Jon Say “stumbled” unto a Kettering player and after the ball was loose shortly, the St Ives offense picked up the ball and with a couple of short and quick passes the ball ended up with Alex Paddock who cooly finished for a 1-0 lead.

St Ives tried to keep the pressure on, but Kettering also kept attacking, one of those attacks ended up with their forward who hit the ball just under Stephen Denman’s not big enough feet and scored in the far corner.

Both sides did get changes for the winning goal, both from free play and from penalty corners, but the score stayed the same with a draw the end result 1-1. Once again a good game from the St Ives 3s where they walked off the pitch feeling they deserved more. But given the play in the last weeks, the first win can’t be far away.