Men's 1s vs Loughborough Stu 2

Telford Mens ones faced off against a youthful Loughborough students 2s on Saturday. They were missing 5 of this season's regulars with Vince Richardson, Chris Heath, Dave Tracey, Tom McKittrick and Callum Nightingale all missing for various reasons. Liam Hennessy returned to the squad, while Adam Phizacklea was fit(ish) again after extended injury. The team also welcomed Gareth Hawkins into the mix for the first time in 3 seasons, while youngster Josh Sykes made his first team debut.

Telford eased into the game, getting used to their new system, which appeared well suited to their personnel. They won the first penalty corner of the game, which was well saved by the Loughborough keeper. Telford looked threatening both going direct, and playing through the middle, with Hawkins slotting in well to the Telford system. Meanwhile, Loughborough pressed well and hit fast on the counter. The stalemate was finally broken when a mistake in Telfords back line lead to a ball being played across goal for simple finish at the back post. 

At one nil down at half time, Telford knew the first goal in the second half could prove vital. Fortunately Tom Mallett was at hand to open Telfords account. After being found in the D by Cal Stacey, he worked his way into his back stick, before firing the ball under the keeper. 1-1 soon became 2-1 to Telford. Again Stacey was the provider with a long ball straight down the centre of the pitch being deflected kindly to Noah Higginson, who finished first time. Loughborough continued to look threatening, with keeper Davies pulling off a couple of last ditch saves. Mallett added his second, after Luca Basini won a PC, and a well worked move was deflected in. 3-1 up with 15 mins to go, Telford were in the driving seat, even after Phizacklea saw yellow for a heavy challenge. This was to change in a matter of a few minutes. Firstly, a Loughborough forward drove along the baseline, creating a 1v1 with Davies, before beating him at the near post. Then Telford gave the ball away cheaply, allowing a free shot from the top D which was smashed into the goal. 3-3, and now the momentum was with Loughborough. They pressed high and pounced on any opportunity to isolate players. Telford kept fighting though, and against the run of play managed to grab their fourth, again through the combination of Stacey and Mallett, with Mallett grabbing his hat trick with a bobbled shot into the bottom corner. With minutes left of the game, Loughborough drew level again, when a drag flick was cruelty deflected off a defenders stick. An entertaining second half, which contained 7 goals, saw the game end 4-4. Both teams will have felt that they could have won the game, but a draw felt like a fair result.

A quick note on young Sykes, who despite playing in his debut, did not appear overawed with the occasion, and played some nice hockey in the time he had.