Men’s 035’s v Sittingbourne – National Plate Final
The team (which included a couple of handy guest players as is allowed for the EH Junior and Masters competitions) won a tough match against a strong Sittigbourne side to become National Over 35 Tier 2 Plate Champions! (The Plate because they lost to Harleston Magpies in November in the Tier 1 – but they did not lose after that!) Sittingbourne play in the equivalent South East Premier League to our Men’s 1s East Premier League. They had some very good players.
Our team did not let Sittingbourne settle and were deservedly ahead after 15 minutes or so through Dan Mantell after a fine run and reverse stick finish. Sittingbourne showed how dangerous they can be in a 10 minute spell following that. Stortford were penned in for a while and although only a couple of chances were created, one from a penalty corner was expertly tucked away from a pass direct from the insertion to an unmarked payer in a wider position. Stortford came back and scored through a classic Craig Smith to Jack Wheaton short corner (with Phil Mathison at stick stop) and had a couple more chances before half time. 2-1 at half time.
A somewhat nervous half time for spectators (who were nearly all from Stortford) as we had seen what Sittingbourne could do. We need not have worried as Stortford controlled most of the second half making more chances than Sittingbourne. About 10 minutes into the second half, an Adam Farley (I think) airbourne reverse stick strike was deflected into the back of the net by David Roberts from in front of the Sittingbourne keeper who had no chance. Cue some relaxation amongst the crowd.
Stortford managed to maintain control and not sit back too far as would have been tempting. Sittingbourne had a lot of the ball but did not look threatening and Stortford were more threatening on the break, Grant Gilmour organising the midfield and Jack Wheaton and Rob Morgan mopping up in defence and setting the attack in motion. From one of these breaks, Craig Smith got a thin deflection to make it 4-1 with seven minutes to go. Or so we thought. Sadly the umpires were unsighted and attributed the deflection to the Sittingbourne keeper giving a long corner to Stortford. This made the crown nervous again especially when Dan Mantell was given a harsh green card a minute later. However, the only real jeopady in that last spell was one unthreatening Sittingbourne corner. Throughout the game, David Butcher in goal was equal to what did get through, that one great corner finish aside. Stortford continued to look more dangerous on the break and probably should have had a(nother) fourth goal.
After the presentations and celebratory photos with supporters, a chance for us all to see the Wimbledon vs Surbition Premiership Semi-Final on the main pitch with some celebratory drinks.
Great credit to the team for a great performance that made us all proud and made for a great day out! News of the open top bus ride through Stortford to follow…
PS Kenny McLeish was on hand and managed to obtain official photographer status. Some of Kenny’s typically brilliant pictures are on this link on our site.
The full squad who all did so well: 1. David Butcher (GK), 2. Craig Smith, 4. Mike Landolt, 5. Adam Farley, 6. Phil Mathison, 7. Jack Wheaton (C), 8. Jon Taylor, 10. Richard Cooper, 11. Dan Mantell, 12. Grant Gilmour, 13. Rob Morgan, 14. Jeff Dummett, 19. Gregg Pettit, 21. David Roberts, 26. Matthew Brown, 80. Simon Martyn (GK)
