Croydon Junior 1 Tonbridge Invicta Hurricanes 2        Sunday 13^th April 2008

With several weeks having passed since their last match and having lost 8-2 at home to this side, today’s match was always going to be tough.  It didn’t look as though the pre-match preparation was going particularly well either with several members of the team opting to warm-up in the cars, while the rain bucketed down and thunder rolled in the distance.  Did we really want to be here?

Things improved.  Just as the soothsayer, Mr Clarke, had said they would.   The rain passed, the sun came out.  Players left their cars!  Even some of the supporters started making their way to the pitch.  And before we knew it, the game had started.

And before we knew it, Hurricanes were 1-0 down.   The “curse of the first two minutes” struck again and a series of bizarre errors in defence ended with the ball in the Hurricanes’ net.  Oh dear.  Were another 7, (or more!), going to follow?

No.  They weren’t.  As so often this season, it took the sight of the ball in the back of our net to energise the Hurricanes, but energised they were.  Gabriel Russell got over the initial confusion of being in defence and began to work well with Sam Greehy, Will Clarke and Henry Partridge, keeping the Croydon attackers at bay.   In fact only two further chances fell to Croydon in the first half, both one-on-ones with the keeper; the first Stanley Hill saved brilliantly with his legs, the second, he stood his ground, got the angles all right, and forced the striker to shoot wide.  The Hurricanes midfield was working hard, with Ryan Hine at the heart of most of the action, combining well with Lewis Floyd on the right, who was battling tenaciously and sending in some excellent crosses from the right wing.  From one of these, the ball fell to Matthew Gibbs who, with his back to goal, hooked a shot goal-ward forcing the keeper to save.  Inspired perhaps by this cross, Kane Joseph provided the most entertaining moment of the match when his attempted cross from the wing saw him miss the ball entirely, his follow through sending him flying through the air into touch.   Back on the field, Elliot Checkley and Viny Macky were winning plenty of the ball in midfield but clear cut chances were few and far between.  The back four were all pushing up when they had the chance and Sam Greehy began finding his range with two shots from distance, the second one needing careful attention from the Croydon keeper.  No more goals though.  1-0 at half time.

The manager’s half-time team talk was clear and concise: “You know which one you’ve got to watch; he’s the one with the beacon on his head.”  

The second half almost began in the same disastrous way as the first, but a brilliant save with the legs from Stanley prevented a goal.  The game continued to be closely fought but Hurricanes were beginning to have the better of things, being that little bit quicker to the tackle and the loose ball.  With fifteen minutes of the half gone,  Ryan won possession on the left wing.  He sent a teasing cross high across the area to Kane who controlled well, took it past a defender before crossing to the near post where George Jones was waiting and rose above the Croydon defence to head home a fine goal.  A great move.  A great goal. 1-1.

Both sides now stepped up their game and it was getting really exciting.  No, it was! Really.  Tom Mair had joined the midfield and was putting in some fine tackles to win possession.  At the back Will Clarke and Sam Greehy were very strong in the centre and needed to be, as Croydon applied pressure.  Stanley, by this stage part man, part mud, was making some excellent saves and, though he was working well in midfield, Luke Bohanan  still found time to be back in defence to make two fantastic clearances when Croydon looked likely to score. 

Henry Partridge was having a great game at left back and with ten minutes to go he sent a fine ball into the path of Ryan for a run on goal.  He took a touch  (good time to shoot).  He took another touch, (good time to shoot!)  He took another touch (Shoot! Godamit!!) and coolly struck the ball past the Croydon keeper into the net.  The fans went wild – or would have done if they hadn’t been drowning in the rain.  2-1 to Hurricanes. 

Gabriel was reintroduced to the game.  To his delight, to the midfield!  The manager’s wise instruction to him “No fairy stuff” were clearly inspirational as Gabe joined the other Hurricanes in fighting hard for every ball.  An early Gabe tackle saw the ball fall to Henry who slotted another fine pass through the Croydon defence, putting Matt one-on-one with the keeper… but unfortunately Matt was tying up his shoe lace!  Would two goals be enough?.....Yes!  The final whistle blew.  2-1 to the Hurricanes! A great team performance.

Man of the Match, as voted by the supporters:  back to his best in this match, wanting the ball all the time, creating openings and scoring the winner:  Ryan Hine