Tonbridge Invicta Hurricanes 1 Croydon FC Youth  6        Sunday 30^th September 2007

The Hamster Ate My Gloves!...but it didn’t stop Elliot Checkley  playing a blinder in goal, as the Hurricanes faced a strong Croydon side in their first home game of the season.

The morning started brightly with the smartly dressed ref marching purposefully out to be greeted with cries of, “Give us a twirl!” from the supporters.  The manager was quick to take control though and the game kicked off.

The early pressure came from Croydon and any early nerves on the new keeper’s part were eased as Elliot dealt confidently with two dangerous breaks.  The back four of Luke Bohanan, Will Clark, Sam Greehy and Henry Partridge were working hard together and were foiling most attacks.  After ten minutes though, one got through.  A break down the right wing saw the forward cut in to the box and fire a fine shot into the bottom right corner.  A clinical finish.  Five minutes later the scores were even.  A fierce tackle from Kieron Matthews sent the ball flying into the path of Kane Joseph, who took the ball neatly in his stride before firing a fine shot into the top right of the goal.  1-1.

For the rest of the half the Hurricanes battled well but most of the pressure was on our defence.  Fine tackles from all of the back four kept the opposition at bay but, though Elliot made more good saves, two more Croydon goals left the Hurricanes 1-3 down at half time.

The second half started in the same fashion.  Gabriel Russell and Ryan Hine were working hard in the middle of the park and particularly well-timed tackles were flying in from Luke and Sam.  The opposition  were strong though and kept coming.  Croydon hit the post and scored from the follow up, they then hit the bar and in between Elliot made a fantastic double-save from point blank range.  There was a brief reprieve as Gabe won the ball in midfield and looped the ball forward for Kane J to run on to, his shot going just wide.  Back down the other end and two breaks resulted in goals.  6-1 with still fifteen minutes to go.

But there were no more goals for Croydon and towards the end Hurricanes had the better of things.  A great credit to their fighting spirit.  Harry Hine moved into the centre of defence and fought for everything alongside Sam.  Elliot added to his impressive list of saves by charging madly from goal at various points, successfully putting off the Croydon forwards.  Tom Mair and Kane Fairweather were beginning to win tackles in the middle of the field and, with time running out, it was the Croydon defence that was under pressure. A cross from Kane J found George Jones in the penalty area but his half-volley was blocked.  Seconds later, a fine through ball from Sam found Kane J racing through.  His powerful shot forced a brilliant save from the Croydon keeper.  Suddenly the shots were raining in!  The ball fell to Ryan on the edge of the area, a neat turn and shot saw the ball thump against the crossbar.  Again! (next week, Ryan!)  A series of corners and free-kicks in the closing minutes fell to the Hurricanes.  A Sam shot from distance almost found a way through and a Kane J left foot curler only just sailed over.  Even with the last kick of the game Hurricanes were attacking.  As all referees know, the last thing you want to do is blow the whistle when the ball is heading for goal.  So sure enough, the last thing the ref did was blow the whistle as George’s powerful long range shot was heading for goal!  It flew just over the top.  “Thank God for that!” said the ref.

Man of the Match, as voted by the supporters:  it would have been more if not for the exceptional performance between the posts from…  Elliot Checkley.