L1: Reading 7 Taunton Vale 0

England Hockey Cub Round 3
Sunday 2 November 2008
Reading 7 (Emily Malden, Marianne Downer, Vicky Bryant x2, Liana Smith, Chiara Clarke, Emma Kavanagh - Yes Emma Kavanagh) Taunton Vale 0

Reading pitched up nice and fresh for their third round cup match, having been let off training in the week due to the extreme cold, and having no game on the Saturday.  Their opponents, Taunton Vale, had drawn 3-3 with Swindon the day before so were always likely to struggle for fitness against Reading’s full, fit squad of 16 players.

Popey cranked the girls up to speed with a warm up on fast forward (apparently), but Reading took a while to ease into the game, despite always looked in control. The Blues took control of the match decisively as the game entered the second quarter thanks to a series of perfectly executed penalty corners.  Firstly an Emily Malden straight strike, barely two minutes later Reading won a second which Marianne Downer touched in on the post.

You could be forgiven for seeing double between the 18th and 20th minutes.  Reading won a penalty corner, the ball was slipped towards the right hand post for a precision Vicky Bryant deflection.  Almost immediately Reading repeated the trick: instant action replay.
Three minutes later Reading won their 5th penalty corner, but this time couldn’t maintain their 100% conversion record and dragged it wide.  With their short corner conversation statistics plummeting to 80% thanks to this one error, Reading’s standard of play generally tailed off as the half progressed and their passing got a little scrappy.  Players were guilty of dwelling on possession a little, instead of playing the simple early pass and the difference this made to Reading’s play was acute.

It made little difference to the defence however, who had a little more to do, but with Marianne Downer putting in a commanding, player of the match, performance at the centre of things, Lucy Stevenson had another game where she failed to touch the ball.  Reading didn’t even let Taunton have a penalty corner, never mind a shot.

With the result not really in doubt, Reading upped the ante again for the start of the second half.  Chance after chance went begging as the ball whistled across the front of the Taunton goal, without a diving forward to meet it.  Reading started shooting from all sorts of angles.  DON’T SHOOT FROM THERE LIANA we all cried, only to see Liana Smith slot the ball home from the narrowest of angles to extend Reading’s lead.  DON”T SHOOT FROM THERE OJ we all cried again ten minutes later, as Chiara Clarke got the ball on the baseline.  Despite the improbably scoring position, Clarke managed to score the most bizarre goal of the game, chipping the ball into the bottom far corner.

In a classic jug avoidance tactic Vicky Bryant suddenly got better at defending penalty corners than she did scoring them, twice Reading tried the move that had been so productive in the first half, and twice Bryant managed to deflect the ball over the goal rather than into it.

The game petered out in the afternoon gloom, with Taunton offering little attacking threat but Reading not displaying a killer instinct.  There was still one surprise left, and it was a goal in the very last minute of the game, conjured from an unlikely source: penalty corner move 112, not one we’re that familiar with but it seemed to be effective.  Caught in two minds at the top of the D Clair Kerr first shimmied one way, then shimmied back again and when tackled the ball fell nicely for stopper Emma Kavanagh who calmly swept the ball into the net to the surprise and amazement of all concerned and followed it up with a ‘Flashdance’ goal celebration.

It seemed a fitting ending to another accomplished Reading performance, and a result that saw them achieve the biggest winning margin of the day.  Hopes of a Berkshire derby against Slough in Round 4 were dashed after Slough failed to make it passed Clifton, so Reading go into Monday’s draw as Berkshire’s only representative.  Next Saturday it is back to Slazenger EHL action against Horsham.

Squad: Lucy Stevenson, Alice Margerison (Capt), Alison Pope, Marianne Downer, Emma Kavanagh, Emily Malden, Alex Smith, Laura Puddle, Claire Kerr, Becky Odlin, Vicky Bryant, Clare Appleton, Lou Gordon, Liana Smith, Liz Deighton, Chiara Clarke

Management: Gareth France, Emma France

Green Card: Alex ‘Timber’ Smith
OJ-ism of the week: almost too many to mention given that once again we had OJ playing.  That OJ went to Halloween Bingo on Saturday night and didn’t have any idea how bingo works was good for a laugh:
OJ: So do we all have the same numbers?
Vicky: It wouldn’t be much of a game then would it?
Most Fines: Alex mainly for getting a green card, although OJ was only 20p behind.
Noisy Home Crowd: Witters, Miss Allum, Sarah, Jen (just to clarify for OJ that’s short for Jennifer), Kirsty, Karen, Tino, Gemma, Ollie, Briony Newman, Sue Newman thanks very much for your support (although a bit disappointed Witters claimed to be too hungover to play the ‘Witters’ drinking game that was invented in her honour).