Tonbridge Invicta Hurricanes 0   Redhill Dynamos 1   Sunday 9^th December 2007

Cup Match:  Shield

After last week’s deluge, it couldn’t be that wet again.  Wrong!  Yet again the Hurricanes warmed up and played in pouring rain, as they unluckily went out of the cup 0-1 to Redhill Dynamos.

The first half belonged to Hurricanes.  In the first five minutes, through balls from midfield put Ryan Hine, playing up front, through for runs on goal and it was a good ten minutes before Stanley Hill in goal was called on to do anything.  The midfield of Kieron Matthews, Gabriel Russell, Elliott Checkley and Tom Mair were fighting hard and winning plenty of possession and the back four of Luke Bohanan, Sam Greehy, Will Clarke and Henry Partridge were looking calm and composed.  Luke in particular made several excellent tackles in the early stages.   Twelve minutes into the first half a pivotal moment occurred: Ryan burst through the Redhill back four and fired a terrific shot goal ward; the keeper made a brilliant save tipping the ball onto the bar and away to safety.  A goal here might have made all the difference. 

Hurricanes continued to apply pressure.  A floated Sam through ball into the area was exquisitely trapped by George Jones, who turned sharply but had his shot well-blocked.  The ricochet fell to Elliott whose fierce drive was also blocked.  “It’s one-way traffic!” the Redhill manager was heard to comment desperately.  Henry was playing really well at left back, tackling hard and sending useful deliveries up the left wing. One delivery fell beautifully into the path of Elliott, but his smart close-range shot was parried by the keeper.  The last chance of the half fell to Kieron, who collected the ball just outside the area and fired in a strong shot which beat the keeper but went agonisingly just wide.

The second half was more closely contested with fewer chances falling to the Hurricanes.  The wind was playing its part and Hurricanes were having to defend more deeply.  As the manager said at the end of the game, this was the best the back four have played; fine tackling, good anticipation and lots of supporting of each other was giving Stanley excellent protection.  Ten minutes into the second half however a low driven corner skimmed off a defender’s boot into the net, giving Stanley no chance.  Unlucky for Hurricanes. 

As the half wore on half chances appeared at both ends.  Harry Hine came into the midfield and worked hard to create extra impetus.  Tom Mair was getting some useful tackles in and had a great chance to score when a Ryan Hine cross found him free with just the keeper to beat.  Tom connected well but the ball flashed just wide.  It had always looked like it was just a matter of time before the Invicta goal came but as the minutes ticked away the situation became desperate.  Will and Sam began to push further up but, although the last five minutes saw sustained pressure in the Redhill half, their defence just managed to keep the Hurricanes out.  In the last minute the ball broke to Gabe on the edge of the area; he controlled and fired an excellent shot goal ward, but the keeper dived brilliantly to his left to pull off a great save.  The final whistle blew and that was that. 

Hurricanes were unlucky to lose this one, but it was a good team performance and with a bit more luck the result could have been very different. 

Man of the Match, as voted by the supporters:  for an all-round top class performance in the heart of the defence:  Sam Greehy