Slazenger 3rd team played their first home league fixture of the season and continued the fine form they have exhibited on their recent travels with a resounding 10-1 victory against Chapeltown 4’s.
The home side started strongly and were 1-0 up within a couple of minutes with some smart passing hockey and a deft finish by Jack Mumford.
Slazengers had doubled their lead before the opposition knew what had hit them. Again some quick flowing hockey was clinically finished by Steve Johnson.
Chapeltown started to up their game and were determined to drag themselves back into the game but Slazenger’s were resolute and worked very hard to deny the opposition time and space on the ball. Ste Roberts and Rowan Tejura worked tirelessly breaking down attacks in midfield and setting up breakaway attacks of their own.
It was disappointing after such a dominant first half display that the home side allowed the opposition to score a goal of their own after some poor marking by the team.
It didn’t have a great bearing on the game however, because Slazenger’s took a 4-1 lead into the half-time break.
Second half it was all one way traffic. When defending everyone took responsibility for marking players and when attacking the home team looked for the simple option rather than speculative long range passes.
This paid rich dividends when time and again Chapeltown were ripped apart by quick, incisive attacks often resulting in attempts on goal. Jack Mumford and Steve Johnson linked up well all afternoon, netting seven goals between them with Andrew Birkett tearing down one flank and Aidan Hopkinson dominant on the right.
Further goals were added from a Rowan Tejura penalty flick and and a Paul Johnson penalty corner.
The only negative point of the afternoon was when centre half Paul Johnson was felled by a cynical elbow to the face from a frustrated opponent, who spent the rest of the game on the sidelines.
