PERENNIAL RIVALS LOUGHBOROUGH BRING WARWICK DOWN TO EARTH

24/11/07

Warwick Men's 5 @ 10 Loughborough

The opening game of the Flags competition saw arguably two of the biggest teams in the Midlands league drawn against each other in what no doubt looked like the game of the first round. Last season saw a 12-11 thriller that went Loughborough's way to effectively decide the league. Game On.

The first quarter was cagey and edged by Warwick 2-1. Loughborough opened the scoring, but then Aaron Fox levelled burying a trademark shot top left that kept Andrew "Sweet" Hunt guessing. A great alley dodge by Seb Croft and dump across crease left Aaron Fox open to bury the ball in an almost empty net. Seb croft was 12-18 on face-offs for the day (0.666).

Warwick started the second quarter with an early man-up oppportunity, which they failed to convert and with neat transition play Loughborough took the ball up the other end and levelled the score. The game was tight and every play counted, with only two further exchanges to tie the game up at 3 at the half.

Loughborough came out of the blocks the better team in the second half, and combined with a few errors on Warwick's behalf in clearing and (suprisingly based on this seasons form) transition, Loughborough were able to forge a lead. Andrew "Sweet" Hunt made a couple of immense reaction 1 on 1 saves, and only Duncan Trenholme's could break down the Loughborough Defense after a bullet feed from Seb Croft. Nick More scored off an assist from Duncan Trenholme from a Seb Croft fast break.

However at three quarters time Warwick were still very much in the game, only 6-4 down, in large due to a stellar performance from Tom Riddlestone, who saved 22 shots (0.688) on the game, a season high for him.

In the fourth quarter Loughborough managed to kill off the game, scoring 4 goals answered only by 1 from Warwick from Nick More. Luke Johnstone came out on top at the face-off and also scored a sweet underarm effort to tie off the game at 10-5. On the day Loughborough had out-hustled and showed more desire to win the game, their defense was tight and their attack fluid. Warwick were well and truly into the game until the final quarter and were just short off their best that they have shown this season. If Warwick can iron out the creases then the West Midlands Cup game on 05/12/07 could be a different story.

Warwick are next in action at Aberystwyth on the 01/12/07.


Season record: (5-2)