The last games of England Korfball competition for 2009 have taken place in the conclusion of the second round of the EKA Cup. This round saw the qualifying teams from the first round come together in a random draw of this knock-out competition, with Bec 2 and Kingfisher 2 securing byes into the quarter-final.
Vogwill drives past Bower in an incredible attacking display
The two Nottingham teams were drawn away in this round and matched up against teams from London. Despite travel delays, Nottingham 2 arrived to challenge Croydon 2; the only competing second teams in this round matched up against each other. After a slow start for the travelling side, which featured many of Nottingham 1’s starting line-up of years past, the team began to get into their shooting rhythm. Despite the best efforts of Croydon 2, Nottingham 2 ran out winners 18-13, with 5 goals each for James Trubridge and Sam Whittaker.
Directly following that game Nottingham 2 provided Nottingham 1 with raucous support to try and upset the home advantage of London side Mitcham. Although the supporters were hoping for a goal fest, they were to be disappointed. Nottingham and Mitcham are currently in the top 4 teams in the country, but neither team was able to show their dominance or produce much structured korfball play.
Helen Buttinger defending Kate Wragg
Nottingham relied heavily on Charlie Vogwill, who has been on fine shooting form this season, and Ross Bower was given the unenviable task of defending him. However the most interesting entertainment for spectators was that of Alistair Knight (Nottingham) and Dean Woods (Mitcham) who battled under the post throughout the game.
The score line was close throughout, with Helen West contributing key goals for Mitcham, but with just 2 minutes to go Mitcham went one goal ahead and must have thought the win was theirs. But Nottingham equalised and went one ahead with just seconds on the clock. A defended call for Natasha Dawson rather than a possible penalty for Carina Lamelas from referee Ian Buckle meant that Nottingham held their brief lead and knocked Mitcham out of the EKA Cup.
The preceding game had been equally close as Kwiek were forced to move their home game to Trinity to play Trojans 2 (whose home venue this actually is) due to lack of hall availability.
Brooks and Goodridge linking up in attack for Trojans
Trojans fielded seasoned internationals Rob Williams, Matt Brooks and Kathryn Goodridge in their second team which would provide any top league team some problems. Kwiek lacked some of the creativity from their recent games, and struggled to finish their chances – which will always cause problems considering Trojans’ strong rebounders.
The game was deadlocked to the end, with referee Peter Teague having to take the game into golden goal. Trojans failed to score on their first attack, however, Kwiek only briefly had the ball before it was knocked out of play. Trojans didn’t score in their second attack either, but won a penalty with the ball coming out of defence, which was calmly and convincingly converted by Williams.
Bearsted's Captain Patching puts on a good performance
Earlier that day a young Bearsted side travelled to meet Bec; the level at which these teams play is quite literally a league apart, but Bearsted weren’t going to let that affect them and scored the first goal of the game. Bec quickly replied and from then on slowly built up the score out of the purple team’s reach.
Bearsted were not completely outdone and put 10 past the top league side, with Captain James Patching topping the Bearsted scorers but also producing an overall display that impressed players and spectators alike. Bec’s Captain Davesh Patel once again contributed the most goals for Bec, at 5, and the attacking partnership of Karen Sparrow and Tonya Clarke was of some note amongst an otherwise mediocre performance from Bec.
The other games scheduled for this round of the Cup (Kingfisher v Tornadoes and Trojans v Invicta Sharks) were postponed due to adverse weather in Kent. These games will be rescheduled as early as possible in the new year when the complete line-up of the Cup quarter-finals (which take place on Sunday 11 April 2010) will be known.