MATCH REPORT

A sunny but windy fixture met the Mens 3s. With players returning from injury, making debuts and having had a long break since their last match before Christmas it was going to be a tough one. St Ives were out of the blocks quickly, putting pressure on the defence immediately. Jack Smith marshalled the defence well and as the team settled it was clear they were going to need their wits about them. Gary Croxford had clearly been making use of his Christmas break with dancing lessons as his fancy footwork was evident as he got his stick on the end of some really tricky balls and kept his feet out of the way to St Ives frustration. Despite the hard work in defence the first goal for St Ives soon found the backboard after what seemed like a swarm of players filled the D.

Sutton were not deterred though and Hagan formed a partnership with Josh Smith that started to open up play. Smiths positioning and awareness in defence and attack rightly earnt him player of the match. It was from some clever link play that Hagan scored Sutton's first to level the scores. With a debut for Adam Croxford up front, he was unlucky not to capitalise on some of Forests through balls. E Hales kept making runs but at times bounced off the solid opposition. Despite some good passages of play Sutton couldn't quite convert with Josh Norey and Hagan thwarted. St Ives kept coming, they came at Sutton and scored two in quick succession to go into the break 3-1 up. With a rousing team talk from the returning Jeremy Smith the second half saw an even more determined team. Troy Croxford and Forest continued to both attack and track back, while Jeremy literally commando rolled into the game. St Ives experience and maturity made attack difficult but Hagan broke through again taking a sublime reverse shot. Both teams continued to threaten but final score of 3-2 was probably a fair reflection of a tough first outing for 2022.