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3 February 2007

Saints smashed for seven

Northampton Saints 2nd XI  2 Coalville Town 2nd XI  7

DTZ 2nd XI East Midlands Division One

Town turned in another display of controlled and masterly hockey to crush a lively Northampton side 7-2 in a game that saw them keep their promotion hopes on track.

Town were in control from virtually the first minute, as their early dominance of the game saw them almost go ahead in the fifth minute, when Scott Meadows broke through on the right but chose to pass instead of shoot.

 Further early chances fell to Niki Arnold and Andy Whitby but their attempts on goal were well stopped by the home keeper. However, just when it was a matter of when the first goal would come, Town fell for the sucker punch as the home side broke away in the 13^th minute to score against the run of play.

 This wake up call seemed to spur Coalville on but again the keeper came to the home side’s rescue, however not even he could stop a Whitby thunderbolt from a penalty corner to give Town a deserved equaliser in the 22^nd minute.

 Town were having all the play, with Tony Crowie, Phil Sign, Stuart Jobburn and Brent Clamp in complete control in the middle of the park, but overcrowding in the home dee as they poured forward let them down.

 However, Town got their just rewards with a nicely taken goal after 28 minutes, as Sign’s immaculate passing game fed a superb ball through to Darren Ward who calmly stroked home his first second team goal of the season. 

Shortly after this, skipper Crowie took a blow to the face which looked serious, but after some treatment and a rest up to the interval, he was able to continue after the break.

Turning round with a slender lead, the game reached its turning point immediately after the restart. In their first attack of the half, a superb passing move between Jobburn and Whitby found Arnold in the dee, and taking one pace forward, unleashing an unstoppable shot to make it three.

 It was Arnold who supplied the move for the fourth goal one minute later. Picking up the ball just inside his own half, he weaved through the home defence like a knife through butter and once inside the dee , squared the ball for Clamp to sweep the ball into the net passed a helpless keeper.  

Not to be outdone, Saints came back with a move through Town’s static defence to make it 4 – 2 after 44 minutes, and Joel Barker in the Town goal had to be alert minutes later to block another Saints break.

Town restored the three goal cushion after 53 minutes when Sign scored a deserved goal from a penalty corner blast, and they went further ahead five minutes later when Crowie smashed home another unstoppable strike following more good approach work. 

Town were now in total control, and with Ian Wright, Carl Marshall and Steve Partner providing excellent support as a strong back line, Town made it a super seven when Arnold, who was buzzing all game, finished off another Crowie solo dribble to end a satisfying and thoroughly deserved win to take their unbeaten run to 11 games and a gain a stranglehold on second place in the league.