EKL Round up – Week 8 – 15 December 2013
TROJANS (20) v TORNADOES (10) – Referee: David Bond
The opening match in week 8 of the England Korfball League was between Trojans (Croydon) and Tornadoes (Kent). The home side and current league champions comfortably beat the team from Kent 20 goals to 10 with Stan Dunn top scoring for Trojans with five goals.
NOMADS (35) v KINGFISHER (15) – Referee: Steve Jones.
Another impressive performance from Nomads, once again Nomad’s Sytze Bijker top scored for the Surrey based team with 10 goals. The win for Nomads keeps the team in 3rd place in the league table, equal on points with Norwich Knights in 4th.
Nomads Coach, Dave Butters said “It was important to go into the Christmas / New Year break with a solid performance to maintain our position in the league table and to stay in touch with Bec and Trojans. Kingfisher managed to match our scoring throughout the first half, but we were able to push on to go into halftime 5 up at 16-11.
“A dominant second half performance saw our full attacking power scoring 19 goals and only conceding 4 giving up the highest number of goals scored since I took over at the club. We still have to games in hand and look forward to the second half of the season”
Kingfisher player/coach, Chris Martin said that the difference between the sides was the shooting/conversion ratio, with Nomads scoring a much higher percentage of their shots. With Kingfisher going out to the Europa Shield tournament in early 2014 the side have much to work on over the Christmas break.
BEARSTED (8) v NORWICH KNIGHTS (17) – Referee: Paul Jeanes.
Norwich Knights defeated Bearsted by a margin of 9 goals to ensure back-to-back victories for the team from Norfolk. The win ensures that Knights finish 2013 in a play-off position in 4th place in the league.
Speaking after the match to englandkorfball.co.uk Joe Stirling, Norwich Knights’ Coach said: “It was a competent performance to see out the first half of the season with ourselves progressing nicely. Charlie Vogwill top scored with six from open play in another good shooting display.”
BIRMINGHAM CITY (4) v BEC (26) – Referee: Alan Lewis
Bec Korfball Club’s first team thrashed Birmingham City 26 goals to 4, with the visitors stopping the home team from scoring any goals in the second half of the match. Speaking after the match, Bec’s Head Coach – Dave Buckland, said: “I was really pleased with the team performance today; it was a good result for us” Bec and England International, Ben King, suffered a back injury after 10 minutes and was replaced by Stuart Ironmonger who impressed for the visitors.
Birmingham City’s player/coach Jess Beale said: “In the second half Bec read everything that we planned and prevented us from attacking. Defensively we played OK, just really disappointed with our attacking. We didn’t play anywhere near the standard we have achieved in our other games so far this season. We have a lot to work on over the Christmas break.”
The win for Bec moves them back into 1st place in the league table, ahead of title-rivals Trojans on goal difference.
CROYDON (18) v KV (23) – Referee: Brian Carswell
KV were dominant in the first half scoring 17 goals and only conceding 6. It was enough to secure the win and the two points. However, Croydon gave a gutsy performance in the second half after a change of tactics and were close to causing an upset.
It was a great first half performance from the team, we put the game out of reach for Croydon however we did relax too much and Croydon put on a great second half and put some pressure on us but we held out for the win. Now we can look towards Birmingham away in the New Year. We’ve finished 2013 in 5th place in the league and still in competition for the league play-offs, so I’m happy with that.
Croydon’s Head Coach, Ross Carr-Taylor said “The final score was 18-23. We were 6-17 down at halftime and played some good Korfball in the second half. The last two weeks things have started to fall into place and look good for 2014”
There were solid performances once again from Croydon’s Toby Clarke and Luke James who both scored seven goals during the match.
The England Korfball League takes short break now for the festive period – matches resume on Sunday, 05 January 2014.