Tonbridge Invicta Hurricanes 4 Moonshot  2       Sunday 3^rd February 2008

Bucket and spade, splashing and laughing…no, not the Hurricanes at Camber Sands:  Paul Jones battling with the goalmouth puddle!  A fine performance from Jones, with an assist or two from Checkley, leading to some really creative mud sculptures.  

Meanwhile, biting wind greeted the Hurricanes as they took to the field against high-flying Moonshot. 

The first five minutes were very evenly contested. If anything Moonshot has slightly the better of the chances, but smart saves from Stanley Hill kept them at bay.   Ryan Hine and Gabriel Russell were working hard in the centre of the park, ably assisted by Elliot Checkley on the left and Lewis Floyd on the right.  After ten minutes, a fine run from a Moonshot forward eluded the defence and forced Stanley to charge from goal.  The ball went past Stanley, the player didn’t! Penalty.  Stanley might have saved the penalty but he was momentarily distracted by a mud-sculpture of  Adebayor just to his left.  1-0 Moonshot.

The goal seemed to inspire Hurricanes to even greater efforts.  The players were much quicker to the loose ball this week, with the midfield contesting everything and the back four looking extremely solid.  A Ryan shot from the edge of the area saw the keeper diving to his right to tip it round the post.  A minute later, a Hurricanes attack up the left wing posed problems for Moonshot and the ball found its way through to Gabe who had made a good run into the Moonshot box.  Controlling the ball well Gabe picked his spot and slotted the ball confidently past the out-coming Moonshot keeper into the corner of the net. 1-1.  A deserved equaliser.  The next ten minutes saw further pressure from Hurricanes.  Will Clark and Sam Greehy were outstanding in defence and everything Moonshot tried to throw at Hurricanes came belting straight back.  In fact the next Hurricanes goal came from deep in our half.  Kieron Matthew came away with the ball and sent a great pass out to Kane on the right wing; his excellent cross was met beautifully by Matt in the middle of the area for a fantastic goal.  Five minutes later, a Ryan burst from midfield led to a fierce Kane shot.  The keeper parried but Matt reacted quickly to shoot the ball in.  A brilliant, sweeping move.  3-1 Hurricanes.

Early in the second half Stanley was called on to make two excellent close range saves, and a dangerous Moonshot burst into the area was only just thwarted by a great run back and challenge from Keiron.  But it was Hurricanes that scored the next goal.  George Jones and Elliot put pressure on the Moonshot defence and the panicked clearance fell into the path of Vinny Macky in the centre of the area.  Vinny lost no time in whacking it past the keeper into the back of the net for a fine goal.  A fitting reward for his hard-work throughout the match.   Five minutes later Moonshot pulled a goal back, following an untidy scramble in the Hurricanes’ area, but that was the end of the scoring and the game finished with Hurricanes worthy winners. 

A 4-2 win over the team second-placed in the league tells its own story, but this was certainly one of the Hurricanes’ best displays of the season.  All the players worked hard for each other and there were many outstanding individual performances.  A great team effort.

Man of the Match, as voted by the supporters:  for a great all-round performance and a well taken goal… Vinny Macky.