KEW Hockey Club

KEW 5ths Metro 1 East v Mornington
17:00 Saturday 9th May at PHC

The 5ths were desperately looking for their first win of the season and it was expected against bottom of the table Mornington despite KEW only picking up a point from the first three rounds.

The preparations before the game were not ideal with Captain/Coach Lalor McMahon flying back from a week long invitational coaching seminar in Singapore and feeling the effects of an overnight flight before the game. This was further compounded by Will Parkinson’s absence in goals at the start of the match. This was overcome by Brad Quinn’s excellent display as kicking back for the first twenty-five minutes of the game. Luckily, Will brought his A game when he arrived and took charge of goal.

KEW dominated the majority with their possession and intensity from the start, which has been lacking in previous games. This dominance resulted in numerous penalties but they could be converted. The only danger was when Mornington got a rare break away occasionally when they got behind the solid defence marshaled by Simon Barr and new KEW recruit Jonathan Mackenney. The first half finished 0-0.

At the break, Macca and Cracka instructed the team to continue their intensity and work for each other and force the opposition to make mistakes so that KEW could capitalise. The second half game saw an increase in the intensity, excellent passing and movement off the ball to open up the Mornington defence, who were getting frustrated being on the back foot continually. Again numerous penalties could not be converted, despite some near misses, and is definitely an area that needs to be worked on.

In the final minutes, Macca made a solid drive along the base line towards goal to earn yet another penalty corner. A straight hit was the designated play with opportunists Jeremy Selkrig, Steven Roberts and Macca the opportunists around the goal mouth. The push came hard and fast. Dead trap by Cracka to Paul Sorensen who topped the ball with his strike at goal. The bouncy, bobbly ball evaded all and sundry and was on target making the slightest noise when it finally made its way in to goal and hit the back board. A great cheer went up and thirty seconds later the final whistle blew guaranteeing the 5ths their first win of the season.

The club song was sung loud and proud for all to hear – even if some of the new players did not know the words, those that did made up for them.

The obvious points to work on from this game is applying the finishing touch around goal. But the most encouraging point was the amount of intensity and endeavour by all players for the entire game. It wasn’t an easy game and it seemed that Mornington might break the deadlock with their counter-attacks but the resolve of the 5ths held true to the club song.

Full time score: 1-0 (HT 0-0)
Goals: Sorensen (1)

Best: Roberts, Keam, Mackenney, Barr, McMahon, Parsons, Selkrig, Sorensen, Fuente, Quinn, Parkinson, Coutts (Yes the entire team!)

Next Game: M1E (8th) v Casey (6th) 18:30 Saturday 16th May @ SHC-1