| Eastbourne
Tour 2006
26.08.06
The
now annual pre-cursor to the 2006/07 season saw Harpenden Men’s
First team travel to Eastbourne for a tri-angular tournament on
Saturday.
After winning promotion for the past two seasons the Kingston
Smith sponsored side were looking for some tough opposition from
a strong Eastbourne team and their local rivals Tunbridge Wells
as well as providing an ideal opportunity to blood some of their
summer recruits.
Harpenden’s first game saw them take on Tunbridge Wells
who had the disadvantage of having just played Eastbourne in an
entertaining 3-3 draw and having travelled with only a small squad.
In contrast Harpenden reaped the benefits of their pre-season
fitness regime and having played last week in a similar tournament.
From the start their superior fitness and sharpness told gaining
the upper hand with 4 first half goals.
During the second half Harpenden rotated their team trying several
players in alternative positions and although the performance
lost some of its ruthlessness they still ran out comfortable 7-1
winners. The goalscorers included a hat-trick from Russell Timms
and a well taken strike from Dave Thomas.
After a short break Harpenden took on Eastbourne in the deciding
game for the ‘Floemo Trophy’. Having beaten and drawn
with Harpenden in two previous attempts Eastbourne went into the
game full of confidence and being bolstered by home advantage
they had a large squad of players to call on. In the early exchanges
Harpenden looked like a side who had just played and Eastbourne
took control with some high paced hockey. A blunder in Harpenden’s
defence provided the home side with a simple chance which was
taken to go 1-0 up. Shortly after another quick Eastbourne move
lead to a second goal. At 2-0 down Harpenden finally seemed to
pick up their game and showing great team spirit fought their
way back in to the game. Their first came from a penalty flick
by returning Australian legend Lance Boyd-Clark who missed half
of last season with a broken shoulder.
At half time team skipper Mike Emes reorganised his players and
urged them to push forward for a result. The second half was played
at a great tempo with both sides playing attacking hockey however
it was Harpenden who scored first to draw level with Rob ‘Ginger’
Arnsby providing a reflex finish to a miss-hit shot from Todd
Baines. At 2-2 all the game seemed to be heading for a draw until
Russell Timms received the ball on the left wing, as he cut in
everyone expected a shot but buoyed with confidence after his
first game hat-trick he let fly with a vicious undercut which
flew into the roof of the net. Shortly afterwards the umpires
blew up for a great comeback for Harpenden and their first victory
in the ‘Floemo Trophy’.
Harpenden’s first team have upcoming preseason games against
Blueharts, Eastcote and Herts U21’s before they kick-off
their league campaign in Premier B on the 23rd September. |
