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Untitled Document
The last Haven Sports games of 2009 started off with bottom placed Knights away to a confident Mitcham, after their midweek draw with top of the table Trojans. With height advantages being boasted at different ends, Mitcham�s tall rebounding boys took on the speed of Norwich�s fast paced attackers, whilst England Senior Steph Allen matched her height and aggression against England Under 19 Carina Lamalas.
Knights came out hard from the start and Thomas Ellis used his fast change to score a running in shot. After a hatrick of missed opportunities from post player Dean Woods under the basket, Mitcham equalised and then scored again, with a Ben King shot from under the basket.
As the game progressed it was clear that Mitcham were becoming increasingly unsettled with referee Liam Clarke, as multiple decisions fell the way of Knights, amongst them a penalty, secured by Ross Lenton.
Adding to Mitcham�s frustration was the tactical rebound defence played by Norwich against the division including two of Mitcham's great rebounders, John Taylor and Ben King, playing alongside Lamalas and Kathryn Ayres. This led to several one-shot attacks, with long shots taken by Lamalas and Taylor without a secure rebound position, serving to aggravate Mitcham further. Some poor choices from players with enough experience to know better were giving Knights more ball than Mitcham wanted.
Knights failed to capitalise on Mitcham�s lack of individual control, however, and allowed Mitcham to extend a 4-2 lead. The highly-charged atmosphere lead to a high number of fouls on both sides with Bower successfully converting the resulting penalties and Lamalas and Allen each securing a goal from the free pass.
Mitcham were having a torrid time as endless personal errors and numerous missed chances were making this game heavy weather; this was not the team that held Trojans to a draw a few days earlier. By half time, Mitcham had done just enough to extend their lead to 8-4.
After half time, it was Knights who took the game by the scruff of the neck and scored three goals without reply; Heather Lymburn converted a beautifully crafted drop off and long shot, and with Lenton scoring it made the score 8-7. This was a crucial part of the game as Knights had worked hard to get back into the match.
Knights made a change of personnel as 14-year old Claire Dique came on to mark England's Helen West. But after scoring three since half-time, Knights struggled to convert some easy opportunities and they found themselves unable to maintain the momentum - and then Mitcham�s attack scored through Ayres which seemed to settle the Mitcham players. But Mitcham Coach Dave Synott was clearly irate and replaced Lamalas (who had just scored from distance) with experienced international Sam Wells. Craig Gosling replaced Taylor who had had a troublesome game.
Under the control of Wells, Mitcham settled a little, and worked shots off Knights� rebound defence. Two excellent long shots from Lenton and Bower added to the goal tally, and with 5 minutes to go, the game was already won for Mitcham.
Final score 16-10, but Mitcham will not have been happy with their performance and were very lucky not to have spurned their �extra point� from days earlier. Knights will be searching for the finish in their shots that has evaded them, giving them just 2 points so far this season. This is a tally which does disservice to the quality of their play.
Match report courtesy of englandkorfball.co.uk
report written by: Dean Woods
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