Premier League – Week 6 – ‘Super Sunday’
TROJANS (22) v BEC (19) – Referee: Paul Jeanes. Assistant Referee: Dean Woods.
The opening match on ‘Super Sunday’ was between two of the title favourites, Trojans KC and Bec KC at Trinity Sports Club, Croydon. In a thrilling match watched by a large number of spectators from the viewing areas it was the home team and defending champions, Trojans, that took both points with a tense 22-19 win. Speaking after the match,
Trojans Captain and England International David Brooks said: “It was a competitive game with an array of talent and some great matchups on display.” Trojans managed to contain the threat from Bec’s male players, limiting Joe Bedford to 5 goals (4 open play and one penalty),Andrew Hall to 4 goals, Ben King to a single open play goal and Davesh Patel to four penalties.
“Our main focus has always been on Europa Cup this half of the season which is such a fierce competition and can sometimes prove difficult to maintain the balance of performance for the league and preparation for Europe. This is because teams are getting better in England, so I am very pleased with the result” David Brooks
Bec and England International Davesh Patel said “We’re naturally disappointed with the loss, but there are plenty of positives to take away. We gave away the ball too many times through misplaced passes and not taking that extra second to think. This gave extra possession to Trojans and with their clinical goalscorers that’s always going to be dangerous! We missed a few of our ‘little shots’ in this game and it’s often these fine margins which can swing a game. But to be within 3 at the end considering the amount of (international) experience they have and our relatively young and new team it’s not the end. This was part 1 in the installment – come part 2 we’ll have had more time together to develop and be in a better place to turn this result in our favour”
The win moves Trojans into joint first place in the league on 8 points along with Bec KC, however Trojans have a game in hand.
BEARSTED (4) v TORNADOES (32) – Referee: Anna Jeanes.
The ‘visitors’ in the second match on ‘Super Sunday’ won convincingly with an impressive scoreline of 4-32. The two points from the win moves Tornadoes from Kent into 5th place in the league.
NORWICH KNIGHTS (12) v NOMADS (18) – Referee: Gary Cole.
Norwich Knights were looking for their fifth consecutive win in the England Korfball League, their opponents Nomads however had other plans… Nomads middle and long distance shooting was the difference in this crucial match at the University of East Anglia’s Sportspark arena.
The team from Epsom, Surrey raced into an early 1-5 lead before Knights started their comeback with five unanswered goals of their own. Half time the scoreboard showed 6-5 to Knights.
Nomads Coach, Dave Butters, changed tactics in the second half and started playing ‘rebound defence’ against the section of Lenton, Rowe, Bennett and Cocker (Versteegh, 48 minutes). Knights were simply unable to adjust to the tactics. Nomads scored a number of goals in the final few minutes to secure the victory.
Norwich Knights and England International Charlie Vogwill said “We lost to a better team on the day,
Nomads shot well from distance. A flurry of late goals after another Knights missed penalty gave Nomads a winning margin that didn’t reflect how tight the match was.”
“A great result against high flying Knights. We took some time to get going as both sections had new personnel. We knew we had to shut out Norwich Knights’ Charlie Vogwill and Sytze [Bijker] did exactly that limiting him to 3 goals. Our aim was to limit Knights to a low number of goals as it would take some time for both our attacks to get use to playing with each other and with Karen Sparrow making her debut in the 1st team. Fairly even throughout the 1st half but as the 2nd half progressed we were able to outshoot Knights and keep the pressure up in defence. Overall a very good result as we had only played two matches before this. The team produced some fantastic goals in attack and together with pressure defence bodes well for the season ahead.”
Norwich Knights Coach, Joe Stirling, said “we missed a couple of penalties which handed the momentum back to a strong and experienced Nomads team. Nomads punished our mistakes – they deserved the win today” Commenting on Knight’s league position Stirling said: “we are in a great position after a super start and will be aiming to bounce back to winning ways away at Trojans next week”
The win moves Nomads up into 6th place in the league on 4 points. Norwich Knights who remain on 8 points are leapfrogged in the league table by Trojans.
CROYDON (14) v BIRMINGHAM CITY (20) – Referee: David Bond.
Birmingham City made history today with both their win and first points in the England Korfball Premier League away at Croydon. The win lifts Birmingham City out of the relegation zone, thanks to a superior goal difference over Croydon who move into 9th place in the league.
Croydon Coach, Ross Carr-Taylor, was extremely upset with the result simply said “We need to improve vastly if we want to be playing National League next year.”
Sara Roberts (Birmingham City) said “A great team performance resulted in our first ever Premier League victory.
“Great individual performances throughout the whole team particularly from Beth Phillips and Sara Roberts. A great one on one battle between Andy and Toby made the atmosphere electric. Birmingham pulled away through some fierce attacking from our girls and solid defending across the whole team.” Jess Beale, Birmingham City player/coach.
KINGFISHER (16) v KV (28) – Referee: Steve Jones.
Kingfisher Coach, Chris Martin said “Kingfisher were outplayed by a better team on the day, we only scored five goals in the first half which just isn’t good enough. KV were ruthless at times during the match.”
The win for KV sends them into 4th place in the league on 6 points and into the playoff places . Kingfisher drop down into 7th place in the league. Next week both sides play at home with KV hosting title contenders Bec KC, with Kingfishers hosting Croydon KC.