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Dismal display gets just desserts

Jaguar Coventry 2nd XI 4  Coalville Town 2nd XI  1

Bodykraft 2nd XI East Midlands Premier Division

Coalville's 2^nd X1 turned in a dismal display of hockey against a strong Jaguar Coventry team lying second in the league, going down to a 4 – 1 thrashing to bring to an end their recent three game winning run.

  Missing 3 key players from defence and midfield, and one late withdrawal, Town’s early play reflected the strangers that they were as their usual key passing game became non-existent.

 Being unable to string more than two passes together, Jaguar found it easy to take the game to their opponents as they ripped through the Town defence time and time again, only to see poor finishing let them down. 

With Carl Marshall struggling to find some recognisable help at the back, he found it difficult to hang onto the home forwards and it was left to Joel Barker in the Town goal to save the day with a couple of good blocking saves. The midfield were faring no better as they constantly gave the ball away, and only Stuart Jobburn seemed to be up for the match as he fought hard to hold things together against a spirited home side.

 With Town in such disarray, it was no surprise when they went behind to a well worked goal in the 14^th minute following some good approach play by Jaguar which easily opened up the Town defence, and with Marshall up against two attackers, the ball was played out to the right of the dee where the Jaguar winger scorched an angled drive past the helpless Barker.

Some of the home side’s tackling was getting rough as sticks began to fly in and it needed umpire intervention to calm things down with a yellow card warning for the next dangerous tackle. This encouraged the home side to step up the pressure, going two up after 27 minutes when they strolled through the Town defence to deliver a reverse stick shot that gave Barker no chance. 

Town’s first half team play was unrecognisable from previous weeks as they were unable to get to grips with their game, as pass after pass went awry, turning round two down without having had a single shot on target.

  The second half started with a bit more fight as Richard Wright, Brent Clamp and Darren Conway began to get a grip in midfield, and with Jobburn prompting from the back, they at least managed to get past the home defence. 

Scott Meadows saw a couple of early chances come to nothing, but Niki Arnold was struggling against a packed defence with little support from his team. The defence had tightened up as Gareth Toyer was moved back alongside Marshall , however Barker was again asked to make two sliding saves from advancing forwards to keep it down to two goals. 

However despite this improvement, they went three behind after 51 minutes when they were unable to get the ball out of their dee and with Toyer unable to reach the final pass across the goal, a home attacker stepped up to plant the ball past Barker, who again had no chance with the shot.

  Despite the score, Town never stopped fighting and with Clamp, having another good game on the left flank, and Wright closing down the right, Town gradually found some space as the passes began to get through. Jobburn, who never stopped working hard all game, went on two tremendous runs from his own 22 metre into the heart of the home defence, but still the reward would not come. 

Things turned around a little after 56 minutes when a home player received a yellow card for another crazy tackle and this gave Town some heart. With Meadows causing problems on the right, the home keeper was at last called upon to make some saves, but even he couldn’t stop Town getting a goal back after 63 minutes when a scramble in the home defence saw the ball work through to Clamp to slot home his fifth goal of the season. 

However the joy was short lived as Jaguar, now back to a full compliment of players, restored the advantage two minutes later when they broke from defence to slot the ball past an advancing Barker.

  A very disappointing defeat for Town, and it shows that if key players are not available for whatever reason, the resultant strength of the team is not good enough to withstand the better teams in this league which is a lesson they will need to learn and quickly.