MATCH REPORT

Full of confidence after last week's narrow defeat in Cambridge, Long Sutton arrived at Peele School looking to continue the good start to the season and get the 3 points against a resurgent City of Peterborough team, fresh from 2 good wins in their last 2 matches. The anticipation was there for a good match up with the crowd engaged and your reporter poised. Unfortunately, what occurred during the first half of this game was difficult to describe. No amount of searching the Oxford English Dictionary would assist us in finding the words to describe the Long Sutton performance. All week the preparation had been good, the pre match talk and planning had been good, the ladies were excited and ready to go. When the whistle blew however, all confidence seemed to drain like a disappearing snowman on a sunny December day. You could call it a bad day at the office; it turned out to be a half of hockey that the home side would definitely consign to the black bins that sit proudly around the edge of the pitch at Peele Leisure Centre. The basics were just not there and no one had any rhyme or reason as to why. The ladies tried hard as they always do, they used an extraordinary amount of energy to try and overcome the demons that were possessing them during the first half of this game. City of Peterborough played like a team full of confidence, Long Sutton didn't. It seemed no matter what the home side tried nothing came off. There were one or two forays forward into the D but the ball was not running. As for the away side their energy and vitality was rewarded with 3 goals before half time. The first two from the right hand wing with crosses finding their markers and subsequently the goal. Normally defenders picking the ball would have been normal, but this week the ball shanked off sticks and into the goal. Half time was about playing for pride and trying to get a foothold in the game. Indeed the second half Long Sutton were the more aggressive and enjoyed more of the game, but luck was not working for them when the ball came to the D. 8 short corners the home side forced and on any other day goals would have come from them, this time by whatever method Peterborough seemed to be able to clear the ball. Defensively in the second half Long Sutton performed and despite the away side gaining 5 short corners, the defensive formation held up. The game finished 0-3 and some long long faces from Sutton at the final whistle. It would be difficult to have embellished this report more or written more words. It simply was a very bad day at the office for Sutton, who now drop to 4th in the table 2 points behind the leaders. Of course its early days in the season and there are still 9 more points to play for before the Christmas break. Next week Long Sutton are rotored off, which gives them a full two weeks with the help of their coach to exorcize the demon of this match and find the confidence and renewed vigour to come again and get back not only to winning ways but to play the kind of hockey they started the season with. The second half of this match showed glimpses but clearly when you are so far back at half time it's a forlorn hope. We come again Green Army in 2 weeks.