Mens 3 vs Wisbech Town 2

Ives assembled at the temporary Wisbech pitch ,while their normal home pitch is being relaid, and were surprised to walk straight on for plenty of time for a warm up. Quickly realizing it was going to be an interesting game due to the pitches seemingly random ability to send completely flat balls flying into the air. Pre match team talk by Jeop introduced a surprising new formation (affectionately dubbed the Christmas tree by Jago), 4-3-2-1 with the idea it was going to be a very defensive game with the idea to be able to counter and get them on the break.

The first half got underway with Ives push back and instantly Wisbech put the pressure on but with both teams getting used to the pitch Ives managed to hold them at bay. A few good plays saw Wisbech getting shots off at goal but good saves from Drylie kept the score at 0-0. The first half also saw some good chances for Ives being developed through the wings but unfortunately also led to nothing. The solid defence of Goode, Tudor, Johnstone and Compton was begging to frustrate the Wisbech forwards eventually leading to a green card for one of them but Ives didn't manage to capitalise on the 2 minute player advantage. The half time whistle went and the score was 0-0.

Ives headed to the goal very happy with their performance in that half. Work rate had been high and the defence kept strong. Jago however ever the pessimist informed us that Wisbech would be scoring in the second half.

The second half started with Wisbech pressing straight into the Ives circle and winning a penalty corner. Injector sent the ball straight to of the circle and a hard hit sending it wise, unfortunately only be intercepted by Johnstone's foot pinging the ball perfectly in the near post of the goal and causing Johnstone to throw his mask off and walk away, half in pain from the solid ball and half from conceding the own goal. Some later would describe this as the turning point in the match and certainly the turning point for Johnstone game after having a strong first half. Wisbech now fired up having got one on the score board were eager for one of their own to score now and not long after won another penalty corner. This time after injecting to the top of the circle they slipped it to their left and a slap sent it over the line at the near post past Johnstone who was clearly more focused getting his feet out of the way than his stick down to stop the ball. Not to be disheartened Ives kept going but only having sub was starting to show, especially McKenna needed about a 20 minute sit down (some have described him looking penguin like on the bench during a short downpour). Still Ives did make some advances into the Wisbech circle but hadn't managed to make anything of it. A break from Wisbech saw a crash ball across the circle missing about 3 attacker's and 2 defenders but eventually fell to a 4th attacker who slotted it into the back of the net. Another 2 goals from Wisbech saw the game all but wrapped up although Ives were still hopeful of getting at least one back. This hope led to Johnstone, after being impressed by some aerials thrown by wishbech to try and replicate and hopefully get Morgan through on a 1v1, attempting to throw a long aerial which unfortunately only got up to about head hight and straight into a wishbech player this sealing the DoD nomination from an otherwise great game. The final whistle went and the score line was 5-0. Ives walked off unhappy they hadn't gotten one back but were very happy with the work rate and the way the formation had worked.

MotM shout outs for Cullen for consistent strong play throughout the game, Morgan for his great work rate and Drylies solid keeping that stopped the score line being much higher but MotM went to Tudor for a great defensive game and lovely picks of aerials.

DoD was slim pickings after what was one of Ives strongest performances this season but ultimately went to Johnstone on his first game back in the 3s for a while mostly for his failed aerial but also for the PC incidents at the start of the second half