Men's 2nd XI Vs Worcester 2

Telford 2s travelled to the Worcester international hockey centre for their latest fixture, looking to make it 8 wins from 8 games and continue their great start to the season against Worcester 2nds. Telford were able to field an unchanged side from the win against Finchfield the week before with the exception of the loss of Will Lorenz to injury but with Jordan Keeble having recovered from his hamstring injury in time. With no changing rooms available on site and one of the umpires arriving late, Telford had a lengthy warm up to try and get used to the pitch that was playing quite slow – despite this preparation time Telford started the game slowly, with a number of misplaced passes providing Worcester with encouragement. Thankfully from Telford’s perspective, Worcester’s wasteful finishing kept the score level at 0-0. Telford started to claw their way back into the game with two good chances for Owen Shave from a narrow angle, one off the inside of the far post and one saved by the keeper from a narrow angle that showed Telford there was joy to be had if they could bring greater fluidity to their play. Shortly after, one of the Worcester defenders went down injured and could not continue. With no substitutes Worcester would have to play the rest of the game with 10 men. Telford were able to capitalize shortly after with their best move of the half, great passing play down the right found Matt Hadley-Moore on the baseline who pulled it back for Callum Nightingale to sweep the ball home emphatically for 1-0. The lively Sammy Brazier nearly made it 2-0 with an audacious reverse flick/lob that sailed past the far post, with Nightingale also skying the ball over the bar with a tee shot from close range to dodge his second of the day. Worcester continued to pose a threat though despite their depleted numbers, putting Telford under pressure on the break.

At half time hobbling cheerleader / manager Tom Williams made it clear Telford needed to up the level of quality – with the man advantage and the amount of space at their disposal but the slow pitch, the team needed to make the most of the close range passes on the offensive and show more discipline in defense. The second half showed an improvement, albeit still not to the high levels Telford had set in previous weeks. Most of the remainder of the game was played in the Worcester half with good chances falling to the likes of Sean Huffer on the reverse, John Perry with an air shot and Luca Basini hitting the outside of the post from a corner but through a combination of poor finishing and decent saves from the Worcester keeper, Telford were unable to add to the scoreline. The best chance of the half fell to Sammy Brazier who with the goal at his mercy at the back post elected to kick the ball off the backline instead! The Telford defense coped better with Worcester on the break with good performances especially from Luke Stacey and man of the match Jordan Keeble, with Nathan Capes staying alert to snuff out a 1 v 1also. Telford’s job was made more difficult by first losing Shave to a yellow card following what looked to be a harsh decision when he was adjudged to have put his hand in the back of a player when winning the ball with a jab tackle (despite the protestations of the Worcester bench). Not long after Shave returned to the pitch, Telford lost captain Jon Cook to a yellow as well when his sliding tackle, albeit winning the ball, was adjudged to be an offence by the umpire due to going to ground and catching the man after the ball. Telford saw out the remaining few minutes 10 vs 10 with Tom Jones keeping possession in the corner in his signature way, meaning Telford took home the 3 points with a 1-0 win.

This was closely fought game and Telford will know they’ll need to play better next week when they welcome second placed Ramgarhia to St George’s.

Score: 1-0

Goals: Callum Nightingale x1

Assists: Matt Hadley-Moore x1

MOM: Jordan Keeble

DOD: Sammy Brazier