7th January Match Reports

GMHA Team Match Report

 MOSS PARK TOO QUICK FOR REDDISH 

After substantially losing their last Greater Manchester league game before Christmas, Reddish were looking to be more positive and look for a win which would move them into the middle of the table. The first game back after the break was against an experienced Moss Park side who from the early outset displayed excellent passing moves and an obvious knowledge of the skills of their own players. Yet this was not to deter a young reddish side who took the game to Moss Park and with some early attacking play put pressure on their defence causing Moss to concede some early penalty corners. The Moss defence stood firm and managed to clear a lot of on target shots from the reddish forwards.

Early exchanges in the game saw both teams concentrating on the attacking part of the game and Moss won a penalty corner midway through the first half. Despite a desperate dive from the reddish keeper and frantic defending from Reddish, moss took the lead with a neatly place shot into the bottom right hand corner. The game became pretty even after the goal and the Reddish defence held firm, clearing the ball and passing it onto the wings, where runs from Jenny Plant, with good supportive play from Laura helped put pressure on Moss and Reddish were unlucky not to score with a number of chances just scrapping either post. Jenny Worth was also unlucky not to equalise with a shot right across the face of the goal, which could not turned in by a Reddish forward. Moss took their one nil lead into half time with everything to play for in the second half.

Moss started the second half a lot brighter than Reddish and this lead to an early goal from a scrappy penalty corner. A fiercely struck drive into the bottom left hand corner from the top of the D saw Moss go two-nil up. This quickly became three nil after the Reddish defence had barley chance to draw breath. The third came from a confusing situation as the first shot from the penalty corner was raised above the height of the backboard but was judged to have come off the defenders stick and the goal stood. Reddish were shell shocked and decided to do what they do best and attack. Reddish were unlucky not to come away with a goal after narrowly missing the left hand post with a strong drive.

The defence barely had time to breathe before the ball was back down in the reddish half and despite strong hits outs of the circle and a goal line clearance from Maggie, Moss were able to ring the defence making it difficult for them to clear the ball. A Moss cross in from the right hand side was met by an excellent first time shot from the middle of the D, straight into the bottom left hand corner.

With it looking increasingly less likely for a Reddish win, they didn’t lie down but continued to attack and in an unorthodox style, with Dunners deciding to go forward from the push back instead of the usual backwards, which lead to a penalty corner. It was unlucky not to be converted, with the shot from Charlie just scrapping the post and going wide. This lead to a period of pressure from the Reddish forwards and enabled the defenders to catch their breath, with a number of penalty and long corners. The game ended early due to an injury to the Reddish keeper after a daring stop and Reddish conceded the game, losing by four goals to nil.

Rachel Dunley