NUNEATON 2 SOAR VALLEY 3

After a poor first half performance, Nuneaton lost further ground in the Coaching Solutions East Midlands Premier Division, when beaten at home by a skilful and enthusiastic Soar Valley eleven.

After a bright opening from the home side, the visitors took the lead with a sharp counter attack after the Nuneaton midfield gave the ball away cheaply. There was then a passage of play when both sides suffered some crunching tackles, before the visitors extended their lead from a well-rehearsed short corner.

With a two goal halftime deficit, Nuneaton stepped up the pace in search of an early goal but were unable to break down a solid defence, and with gaping holes in the midfield, the visitors put the game out of reach in another blitzkrieg move.

Minutes later, Nuneaton were back in the game when Ally JONES smashed home a short corner and after prolonged pressure, he added a second with a reverse sweep shot after Lee Marshall’s initial shot was saved by the keeper.

The final minutes were consumed with constant Nuneaton pressure but despite several chances, the home side could not breach the Soar Valley rearguard to register a deserved equaliser.

BARTON II 4 NUNEATON II 4

This Coaching Solutions East Midlands Premier Division game was as good as the score suggests, with end-to-end attacking hockey for the majority of the seventy minutes.

Nuneaton drew first blood, when after good work down the left wing, the ball was crossed in for Steve FALLOWS to finish with a first time shot and this signalled the start of frenetic attack from both sides.

Within two minutes, the home side drew level, only for Nuneaton to respond in similar fashion with Bill HARRIS netting on his long awaited return to the fold.

This setback only served to spur the home side on, and two more goals before the break saw the visitors in need of tactical inspiration as their all out style of attack, left gaping holes at the back.

Skipper Alan Owens made some midfield changes at halftime, and Nuneaton soon saw the benefits of the revised system. Another great goal from Bill HARRIS brought the scores level and both defences looked uncomfortable as the ding-dong battle of the forwards continued.

With only ten minutes remaining, the home side took the lead once more leaving Nuneaton looking dead and buried, but there was one more twist in the tale as the visitors scored a fourth goal, Chris JESSON firing home.

All in all, neither team could complain at the result after a real hum-dinger of a game where the forwards won the day..

NUNEATON III 1 DERWENT III 1

With a free week in the Coaching Solutions East Midlands Division One diary, Nuneaton entertained Derwent and despite having their strongest team for some weeks, struggled to dominate spirited opponents.

With early play evenly balanced, it required a flashing drive from Stu JESSON following a short corner award, to open the thirds account.

With little attacking intent at either end, the game drifted aimlessly towards halftime, neither side relishing the uncompetitive nature of the match.

The second half saw little improvement with the only real moments of note an equaliser from Derwent and an excellent penalty flick save from young keeper Peter Sidwell.

PLAYERS IV 2 NUNEATON IV 2

The fourths made the first of many trips to Nottingham this season, for the latest Coaching Solutions East Midlands Premier Division game.

The match transpired to be an ill-tempered and scrappy game with neither team imposing their authority, not helped by the home side providing just one umpire.

Dave Ellingworth came close to opening the scoring with a reverse flick that was pushed away by the diminutive keeper before a succession of short corners led to Nuneaton taking a first half lead.

Paul Sidwell and Roger Stokes both had goalbound shots saved from the first two corners, before Mark ALLISTER cracked the ball inside the near post with the third variation.

Halftime arrived unexpectedly early, and Nuneaton began the second half both comfortable and confident, as Players toiled to create opportunities. This dissipated when a ball looped into the air in the Nuneaton “D” and was controversially volleyed at shoulder height past keeper Loveless.

Despite the visitors’ protests, the goal stood and within minutes, Nuneaton were reduced to ten men after a clumsy midfield challenge sent a home player sprawling. To rub salt in the wound, careless marking allowed Players to score from the resulting hit and Nuneaton were left to chase the game.

Abandoning the traditional back four, Nuneaton threw players forward and pressed hard for an equaliser with Gary Moreton and Paul Sidwell combining intelligently down the right to create difficulty for the home defence.

A deserved leveller came after a Sidwell drive was controlled at the far post and scrambled through the keeper’s legs by Oliver GAZELEY. With Nuneaton now in the ascendancy, the final whistle came as a relief to the home team who sped from the pitch in readiness for their next challenge.

NUNEATON V 2 NORTHAMPTON IV 3

Nuneaton faced a youthful Northampton side in this Coaching Solutions South East Division Two encounter, but found their opponents more than a match despite their lesser physical strength.

Neither side was dominant in the early stages, but as the half wore on Nuneaton were forced back and were able to use the counter attack to good effect, with Sid ORPIN and Jon TATUM finishing strongly to give the home side a comfortable halftime buffer.

The evenly matched sides continued to probe in the second period, and eventually, Northampton’s youngsters worked an opening from a short corner that was confidently despatched past keeper Casement.

With ten minutes left, Nuneaton still had the edge but a breakaway goal squared the score and the visitors’ young legs began to tell against an aged Nuneaton defence.

Only thirty seconds remained on the clock when Northampton snatched victory with a goal from a short corner that probably could and should have been stopped by the defender.

Nevertheless, Nuneaton battled hard against hardworking and skilful opponents and will certainly need to show similar commitment in forthcoming games.

LEICESTER WESTLEIGH IV 0 NUNEATON VI 6

Another commanding display in the Coaching Solutions South East Division Two from the young Nuneaton side was topped only by five goals from 12 years old forward Josh Wagg.

A number of changes were forced on to the sixth team this week but they were not worried by it and gave a debut to Mike Parker who worked hard throughout the match. A mention should be made of unlucky Mark Lawton who started the game but after five minutes needed to come off with a nose bleed. Once he recovered, he came back on only to be hit on the hand by a rising ball and was forced go off again.

Fine wing play by Nick Perry caused the home side plenty of problems and led to two of the six goals. Josh WAGG was always in the right place to finish off the moves and was well satisfied with his five goal haul.

Strong work in midfield by Simon PENNINGTON was at the heart of many of the attacks and he linked well with Richard Morris and Craig Gilchrist. Simon was finally rewarded for his hard work with a fine solo goal into the roof of the net.

There will be sterner tests to come this year but the players did all they were asked of and were always well in control of this match.