Old Coulsdon Colts 4  Tonbridge Invicta Hurricanes 2       Sunday 24^th February 2008

Sudden bursts of speed, intricate manoeuvres, dummies being sold and a lot of ground being covered.  An inspired Hurricanes performance?  No: just the manager “leading” the convoy to Old Coulsdon. Still we got there in the end.

Hurricanes got off to a sleepy start with Old Coulsdon quick to attack.  Stanley Hill was called on twice in the early stages and saved well with his legs. After this initial scare Hurricanes began to threaten.  A goal-mouth frenzy saw Matthew Gibbs put the ball in the net, but the goal was ruled out for offside.   A minute later Matt came close again, forcing the keeper to save well with his legs.  Old Coulsdon looked dangerous on the break though and after 10 minutes took the lead: with Stanley committed, the ball was headed off the line by Vinny Macky and it then hit the bar before a Coulsdon forward headed home.  Hurricanes had a chance to equalise almost immediately when Ryan Hine slid a great ball through to Kane Joseph, one on one with the keeper, but the keeper managed to save.  Two minutes later he didn’t:  in our area, Stanley made a good block with his legs, the ball fell to Ryan who sent a superb pass to Matt on the half way line.  Latching onto the ball brilliantly, Matt sped away from the trailing defenders and thumped a great goal past the advancing goalkeeper.  1-1. 

Chances continued to come.  A long range Coulsdon shot hit the intersection of post and crossbar and at the other end a long range Matt shot, shaved the post.  Only one more goal came before half time though: a through ball saw an Old Coulsdon forward outpace the defence and fire a great shot past Stanley.  An evenly contested half, with probably Hurricanes having had the better chances.  Unlucky to be 2-1 down.

There was a similar pattern to the second half, with both sides having chances, but probably Old Coulsdon having the better of things.  There was a touch of luck about their third goal as the ball skimmed off a defender into the path of a Coulsdon forward right in front of goal, and they added a fourth from a corner.  There was action at the other end too though.  Elliot, fighting well on the left wing, fired in a fantastic cross, met by Kane but the keeper saved and then Kane was the supplier from a similar position with Lewis Floyd this time forcing the keeper to save.  An Elliot corner saw Kane go close but it was beginning to look Kane was fated not to be on the score sheet.  Until the penalty that is!  A Coulsdon defender had tried unsuccessfully to push Kane off the ball and obviously decided the best way to stop him would be to take his legs away. Penalty.  Kane stepped up and blasted it top left for a well-deserved consolation goal.  A flying save from Stanley in the closing stages kept the score respectable and ended a good Hurricanes performance.  A little more luck in front of goal (the Coulsdon keeper played really well) and the result could have been very different.

Man of the Match, as voted by the supporters:  a strong performance, capped by a spectacular flying save near the end:  Stanley Hill