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Town smash Coventry for six

Coventry & North Warwick 2nd XI  2  Coalville Town 2nd XI  6

Bodykraft 2nd XI East Midlands Premier Division

  Sporting a more youthful presence, Town’s 2^nd X1 turned in a superb display of controlled hockey to dominate and destroy a dismal Coventry & North Warwick team by a thumping six goals to two.

  Missing players from the 1^st X1 downwards meaning others had to move up to fill the gaps, Town’s youth policy began to pay dividends as they included three players under 18, all of whom added to a performance that would have graced the regular squad.

 From the off it was Town who had the upper hand as they poured forward looking for an early goal, and they were not disappointed. With early efforts from Niki Arnold, Scott Meadows and Aiden Spilsbury just off target, Town swept into the lead after just seven minutes. 

Winning a penalty corner from virtually continual pressure, the ball found it’s way to Arnold who squared the ball for Brent Clamp to glide home the first of the afternoon. With all the play coming from the visitors, Town made it two after 14 minutes when Darren Conway picked up the ball on the right of the dee and his shot cum cross from an acute angle bounced off a defender’s stick and into the net.

Town had total control of the game with Stuart Jobburn, Conway and Clamp holding an iron grip in the middle and with Chris Woodard and Tom Sloan pushing on down the flanks. With Meadows and Jordan Ward giving them the width up front, the home side could find no answer to the Town attack. 

Aiden Spilsbury, who has come on in leaps and bounds this season, was causing all sorts of problems with his runs through the middle and with Arnold and Meadows to play off, he was unlucky with a couple of efforts on goal. 

With such a commanding position, Carl Marshall at the heart of the defence was having little to do, and Paul Marston in the Town goal was almost a spectator, however the home side did manage to get the ball in the net midway through the half but their joy was short lived when the goal was disallowed for striking the ball over head height.

Not to be outdone, Town surged back, making it three after 22 minutes when Spilsbury scored a peach of a goal. Picking the ball up on the half way line, he played a super interchange of passes with Conway , taking the nicely weighted return to draw the keeper off his line and slide the ball through his legs. 

Five minutes later it was four, as Meadows got in on the act, picking up a misplaced defender’s pass in the dee to smash the ball past the helpless keeper. The home side by now had gone to pieces under the continuous onslaught and some of their tackles were beginning to cause concern however things had calmed down by the time half time arrived. Such was their frustration, the home keeper and his central defender very nearly came to blows!  

The home side came out a different side from the restart, taking the game to the visitors but their efforts were easily taken out by Woodard, Marshall and Sloan across the back, and with Jobburn patrolling the deep middle, Marston’s goal was not really threatened. 

Town had taken their foot off the pedal for the first 10 minutes or so, but the introduction of skipper Tony Crowie, clawing his way back from a wrist injury, soon put paid to the home side’s resurgence. His presence turned the home tide and Town went five up after 50 minutes from a nicely worked penalty corner routine. 

Clamp’s precision strike went to Jobburn who offloaded to Crowie and his cross goal pass to Arnold saw the striker slot home a well deserved goal. However as Town started to celebrate an easy win, the home side came back with a  scrambled goal which appeared to be a wake up call.

 They pulled another goal back after 64 minutes when they broke through the back line, however Town had the final action of the game scoring a sixth goal a minute before the end. Again the goal came from a penalty corner, when after a scramble in the home dee , Clamp popped up to slam home his second of the game.

An easy win for Town, although there were a few anxious moments along the way. But it was a pleasing performance that paid testament to their youth policy which will surely see the club come good in the future.