After consecutive away games, Robbies 2s welcomed Gloucester City to the Badminton beach fortress on a surprisingly sunny autumn afternoon. So far this season the 2s have established themselves as a formidable force in the league, building a solid foundation in recent games with a run of positive results. Following a big week polishing up tactics on the training ground, aspirations were high in the 2s conquest of West Div 1 North.
Before pushback, both teams paid their respects to the service and sacrifice of all those that have defended our freedom’s through a minute’s silence. With Captain Kirky at the helm and Plimmer commanding from the sideline, Robbies set a high standard of intensity from the off. The Robbies’ offence looked strong, the midfield linking the forwards nicely into the threatening positions. It wasn’t long before Gloucester succumbed to the attacking pressure. A breakdown of play in the Gloucester D and a horizontal keeper were all that Rouse needed to fire the ball into top bins, securing the first goal for Robbies. Minutes later, Medland led a strong counter attack down the right hand side, linking with Martindale and J Dell for a delivery to Tidy at the back post, securing the second.
Throughout the first half Gloucester tried to return the attacking pressure with aggressive balls from their left half coming the Robbies D, however the Gloucester forwards failed to capitalise. Robbies kept pushing. The likes of Judge, Russell and Johnston continued to work hard in the heart of the pitch further threatening the Gloucester defense. Towards the later stages of the first half, Rouse, Tidy and Dell linked a lovely spell of liquid hockey through the guts of the Gloucester defense, allowing Dell to slot the ball past the keeper with ease, concluding first half action at 3-0.
A change of ends and Robbies were back matching the strong first half tempo. Options came early on. A quickly taken corner from Kirky allowed Martindale to enter the Gloucester D and deliver the ball across goal to Tidy, for another Tidy tap in. Things were looking positive, however some errors in the middle of the pitch allowed Gloucester through on goal, calling GK Sully into action, who fought them off with some strong saves. However more mistakes followed and Gloucester quickly scored a first and second goal. The pressure on Robbies continued to rise with more entries in the Robbies D. The situation worsened further due to some exuberant defending from a Robbies forward (who will remain nameless) resulting in a penalty corner to Gloucester. Thankfully the Robbies defenders exhibited more composure and successfully defended Gloucester’s best corner efforts.
Gloucester continued finding success on the counter attack, a high turnover around the Robbies 25 left Sully beaten 1 on 1. What looked like a 3rd Gloucester goal after was denied by a fantastic save by Sekula, driving the ball from the Goal line. After a frantic 15 minute spell, Robbies finally got a grasp back on the game for the remaining 10 minute spell.. Securing the 4-2 win puts Robbies 2’s top of the league!!
Jack Martindale
