Marathon effort sees Felixstowe Shine

Felixstowe Men’s 1st Team 5  Ford Men’s 1st Team 4

NE14 East Men’s League - Division 1 - Saturday 8 th October 2011

After last weeks loss away at Waltham Forest, Felixstowe entertained Ford at Orwell High School in temperatures far preferable to the previous weeks Mediterranean heat wave.

With only a single point on the board prior to this match the team were determined to get a first win of the season and get their campaign fully under way.  The seasiders welcomed back defensive genius Dave Healy and the attacking flair of Paul Farthing back into the squad having been unavailable last week.

The pre-match team talk centred around re-discovering the grit and determination that had seen Felixstowe fair well in the league last year, knowing the opposition would be very skilful and that hard work would be a necessity if the final result would work in our favour.

The game started at a high tempo, with both teams showing their intentions of attacking play.  Felixstowe looked the more dangerous team in the early encounters, with some dangerous running from the forward line of Phil Leney and Jack Entwistle.  The pressure soon paid off as a short corner was won from some good work down the right flank.  The seasiders capitalised on their first opportunity and scored the opener with their trademark short corner, finished off by Jack Entwistle.  The away team began to come into the game more after this and used their outstanding stick skills to break the Felixstowe midfield line and pressure the defence.  They achieved a short corner themselves shortly after this and levelled the scoring with a well-taken goal.

Midway through the first half more good play from the Felixstowe attack won them another short corner, which resulted in them taking the lead again via Entwistle, with a carbon copy of their first goal.  Once again Ford came back with attacking gusto, catching the Felixstowe midfield short with some fast and effective counter attack hockey that levelled the scoring once again, finished with a simple tap in at the far post after some good work down the left.  It was clear to players and spectators alike that this game was going to be an end-to-end affair, with both teams showing some outstanding attacking play.  Shortly before half time Felixstowe gained another short corner, which captain Alex Woodhouse dragflicked past the opposition goalkeeper to give his side the lead at the break. 

Half time – Felixstowe 3    Ford 2

The half time chat again centred around grinding out the result and doubling up on the skilful Ford attack to allow them little room to work in.  All the lads looked well up for the battle and went out willing to put bodies on the line for the team.

The second half began similarly to the first, with some great open attacking play that entertained the crowd throughout.  Felixstowe were working tirelessly to win the ball back, lead by the outstanding Matt Walker in midfield, who put in a number of crunching tackles and endless running.  Initially however the hard work failed to pay off, as Ford drew level and then took the lead with two similar goals, hitting the by line then squaring the ball to the far post for tap ins.  Felixstowe refused to let the result slip away from them after this and rallied together, putting in even more legwork to win the ball back, before hitting the Ford defence with some stylish attacking play.  Andy Kelcher and Walker were the epitome of the hard work ethic, showing fitness levels similar to marathon runners and a commitment that any captain would be proud of.  The rest of the team followed suit, with Tom Offord and Ben Knowles combining very well down the right, and Marly Jones and Paul Farthing showing similar characteristics when called upon.  The grit and determination showed by the whole team led to Felixstowe equalising.  Leney gained the ball in opposition territory and skinned the Ford left back for pace, before being hacked down to win his team another short corner.  Woodhouse stepped up again and fired another dragflick past the static keeper to level the scores and give his side the momentum going into the final 15 minutes.

With both teams keen to hit the winning goal tempers flared slightly and both sides put several over committed tackles in.  No malicious play was present here, just a desire to win from both teams that occasionally boiled over.  This led to Felixstowe’s Paul Farthing receiving a yellow card for a rash tackle, and a Ford defender getting the same punishment minutes later for a similar challenge.  With both teams a player down the game became even more open and chances came for both sides to no avail.  With 10 minutes to go the break through came.  Great defensive work allowed Walker to dispatch an early pass to Woodhouse on the half way line, catching most of the Ford team flat footed.  He turned and hit Entwistle who played a first time pass to Leney which sent him clean through on goal.  With just the keeper to beat Leney calmly took the ball into the ‘D’ and fired what turned out to be the winning goal expertly past the on rushing keeper.  He turned to wild cheers from the crowd and congratulations from his delighted teammates.  The final minutes summed up Felixstowe’s performance as they worked tirelessly to grind out their first win.  Every member of the team put everything into the game, and proved that the will to win can often count for more than having immense stick skills.  The final whistle blew to the delight of the Felixstowe players and the watching crowd, giving the seasiders the 3 points they deserved.  It was a great team performance, both defensively and going forward, especially with regards to the clinical nature of the Felixstowe short corner routines.

This victory will no doubt spur the team on and give them some momentum going into next weeks game at home again against Cambridge Nomads. 

Man of the Match – Tom Offord