Mens 3 vs Cambridge Nomads 2

What was left of the 3s squad assembled on Saturday lunch after what left like over half the squad had been called up to the 2s and even the 1s! There were 4 league debuts for the 3s today, Clayton, L Parker, Pooley and M Wildin stepping into the squad as well as some familiar faces called up from the 4s. After warm up the team talk was delivered by Jones (c) and was very much along the lines of it will be a tough game, but remember what we've been doing at training and keep it simple.

The match got underway with Ives starting strong, an experienced spine of the squad meant possession was mostly in Ives favour and so nice feeder balls sent out to the wings put the pressure on Nomads. Unfortunately despite some good play Ives hasn't had any real chances for which Nomads started applying the pressure back on us. Half way through the first half the Nomads forwards caught out the Ives defence and a free man in front of goal made the score 1-0. Not to be disheartened by this Ives put the pressure back on and finished the half well, but still one down.

Half time team talk, we were doing much better than what was expected after the selection meeting. We just needed to capitalize on our chances and our new junior forwards needed just a bit more movement into space.

The second half started fairly evenly with both sides playing some good hockey but the heat and the fact both sides only had a sub each was begining to show. It became fairly end to end hockey with strong breaks by both sides. During one such break by Nomads 10 minutes into the half down the side line and along the base line Johnstone went in for the tackle and somehow ended up conceding and PC and earning himself a green card (much to many players confusion) and thus earning himself the privilege of writing this match report. A tense 2 minutes off the pitch with Ives constantly under pressure left Johnstone very concerned about the new double jepody fines rule of conceding while carded. Luckily the Ives defence held strong and Ives were soon back to full strength. A lovely break way let to Ives winning a well won PC. Injected by Jones to Land who then slipped it straight back to the injector with a brilliant deflection brought Ives level. Both teams continue fighting hard mostly with Nomads applying the most pressure but allowing Ives to play some nice countering hockey. The final few minutes saw the Ives defence getting pushed towards their limit but goal keeper Denman continued with his steller performance stopped any of the attempts from scoring, at times even to the amazement on the opposition. The full time whistle was well received by all with nearly everyone having given their all. A fantastic opening game of the season that Ives can be happy to have walked away with a point from.