England Korfball League – Week 5 review

Ryan Medhurst continued where he left off last week, this week scoring five goals to help Kingfisher beat Trojans 23-22 in the England Korfball League. It’s now back-to-back defeats for current national champions Trojans… Here’s our weekly roundup from all the matches in today’s England Korfball League.

NOMADS 18-8 BIRMINGHAM CITY (HT 11-3) – Referee: Toby Parsons

The opening match of the day took place at Epsom College Sports Centre between Nomads and Birmingham City. Before today the sides have met just four times, with the Surrey based team winning all the matches, most recently 21-5 in the opening match of the 2014/15 season.

Ean Irwin who scored eight goals for Nomads today said: “I am really pleased with the players’ attitudes and commitment today, the ball wasn’t dropping as regularly as we wanted but we are building on this week on week in training and in matches.

“Reaching the Play-offs is our minimum target, current league position is great but doesn’t mean much when you take all the other teams catch up games and upcoming fixtures into consideration”

Nomads head coach Dave Butters: “a strong defensive performance, but we must shoot a higher shots to goals ratio than we did today”

Birmingham City player/coach Jess Beale: “We were happy to limit Nomads to 18 goals and our defence was impressive at times. We struggled in attack and will look to focus on this in preparation for our big game against Tornadoes in two weeks time.”

The bottom of the table clash between Tornadoes and Birmingham City takes place on Sunday 14 December at Aylesford Sports Centre.

NORWICH KNIGHTS 16-25 BEC (HT 10-13) – Referee: Gary Cole

Bec continued their unbeaten run in the league with a 16-25 victory over Norwich Knights at UEA Sportspark, Norwich racking up their 100th goal of the campaign in the process.

Speaking to England Korfball after the victory Bec’s head coach Dave Buckland said: “We put a good team performance in today against a good Knights team full of young talented players. We are playing with a lot of confidence and are scoring some well worked goals.

“All the hard work the squad puts in at training week in week out is really starting to pay off and the players deserve the results they are racking up”

Norwich Knights coach Joe Stirling: “Today we showed we can match anybody. After a fast start for Bec we scored 6 unanswered goals to level. Playing to a hard intensive tempo we traded goals for the rest of the half and at were good value for the half time score [10-13].

“In the second half we continued to work hard for our shots but struggled to create as many variations in our attack. Bec’s defence was strong and that gave them the momentum which carried into their attacks.

“A lot of positives for us to take away. We have now played Bec twice and have shown great progression in our performances as a team and individually.

“We now have two weeks before our next match in which we’ll maintain high training levels and arrive with confidence for the final game of a successful calendar year.”

KINGFISHER 23-22 TROJANS (HT 13-12) – Referee: Adam Dibble

A pulsating match took place today at Medway Park today between Kingfisher and Trojans. It looked like both teams would share the points, and they would have if it wasn’t for Saskia Carr-Taylor who scored the winning goal with only seconds remaining.

It’s now consecutive defeats for Trojans after last weeks 24-21 defeat against Bec in the England Korfball League and now a 23-22 against Kingfisher. The result leaves Trojans in fifth place in the league on four points; one place outside the playoff places.

Kingfisher player/coach Ross Carr-Taylor: “Today’s game from a coach’s point of view was a joy to watch. Our new fast flowing style was clear for all to see and for the majority of the game trojans struggled to defend.

“We as a club are enjoying our Korfball and it shows when we play. Our fitness is improving and we are hoping come the end of the season we will be in the mix.

“It’s been a while since any club has introduced a new way of playing that can be clearly seen.

“Ryan Medhurst again was out outstanding with 5 open play goals but it was a complete team performance, Saskia Carr-Taylor scored the winning goal from a free pass in the dying seconds.

“Chris Martin put in a first-class defensive display today against Trojans and Ireland international Matt Brooks. Brooks is a dangerous player and Chris done well today.

“Trojans’ Stan Dunn had an outstanding start to the game today, scoring four from four”

Kingfisher went into the halftime break one goal ahead (13-12). The teams continued to trade goals throughout the second half.

With one eye on the upcoming Europa Cup in January Trojans were testing out new partnerships and tactics in today’s match against Kingfisher.

Trojans’ Tony Woodvine said “We had a strong enough team to win the game but Kingfisher were more hungry….our defence simply wasn’t good enough”

After a disappointing start to the season with two defeats Kingfisher have now won their last two matches. Next up for Kingfishers is Tornadoes on Sunday 14 December. Can Kingfisher continue their recent form and move up the league table?

Trojans have four matches before the Europa Cup; Birmingham (7 December), Nomads (14 December), KV (4 January) and Norwich Knights (11 January).

There’s just one match in the England Korfball League next Sunday, Birmingham City v Trojans at 14:30. Can Birmingham make it three consecutive defeats for Trojans or will Trojans get back to winning ways? Find out next week!