Bristol City, Home - 1sts
13-10 Remco (5), Joey (2), Josh (2), Amy (1), Chris (1), Donna (1), Helen (1), Kat
Though both sides could lose this match and still recover to win the title, both clubs knew that a win would put them in pole position. Dragons could go into the match fortified by the knowledge that they’d won in Bristol earlier in the year, while Bristol City could take comfort from having won every other match of the season.
The importance of the fixture and the absence of a preceding second team match meant that the tension was obvious at the start and both sides failed to find their best attacking form. Finally, Dragons got off the mark, with Helen running clear of her marker and releasing the shot just before the switch could be made. But Dragons were unable to build on that lead, with the City skipper, Ian Dellbridge scoring their equaliser – the first of many equalisers during the match. Again Dragons took the lead with Amy scoring from mid court but that was simply a trigger for Bristol City’s star player, Stu Hall to make his first impression on the game, scoring a penalty after Josh fouled him.
This time it was Bristol City who took the lead, Beth taking advantage of Amy’s inexperience at front defending to score from close range. There followed a sequence of running in shots, by Remco and Chris for Dragons, followed by Stu for City. As half-time approached, Ian burst superbly through the Dragons defence to give Bristol the lead again, but straight from the restart Josh found Remco under the post to equalise. In the final seconds of the half, Chris came agonisingly close to giving Dragons a lead the break but his shot from miles out hit the rim, and Dragons were unable to get up another shot before the whistle.
A 5-5 half-time score was indicative of a game where a combination of tight defending and pressurise on the attacking sides had kept goals to a minimum. Both sides knew they were capable of winning, if they were able to take the step up.
At the start of the second half, it seemed that Bristol City had taken that step up, Stu scoring with a running in shot and a penalty in quick succession. But with Dragons best defending end of Amy, Kat, Chris and Joey in place, the chances for the Bristolians dried up – indeed this end would not concede at all in the second half. At the other end, Remco was beginning to find his range and a mid-distance and a running in shot brought the teams level at seven apiece.
The tension at this point was palpable with several close calls both ways, before Joey finally got one of his long shots to drop. Stu scored his 5th for Bristol to bring the game back level, but meant that Dragons had their best ends in both defence and attack. Remco’s long shot again re-established a Dragons lead, ands then Helen and Josh worked a text-book veer to extend that lead to two, the first time they’d had a cushion all game, and with time running out. When Joey landed his second long shot, that seemed to settle the match, but once again Stu scored for Bristol. In a key moment, however, at the change of ends Donna managed to lose her marker and cooly found the basket which finally killed off Bristol’s chances. With time evaporating, Josh added his second long shot, Joey got called up for timewasting (surely the first time in his korfball career he’s been considered too slow) and Stu finished the game off with his 7th goal in a performance that saw him very unlucky to finish on the losing side.
All of the Dragons players deserved to be on the winning side however, after a magnificent team performance. It was far from flawless, and most of the team found themselves being drawn into mistakes by their much more experienced opponents, but it was testament to the skill and effort of the side that we managed to win despite that. Seven players got on the scoreboard, and defensively the previously free-scoring Bristol team were forced to work hard for every opening they made.
There’s still one fixture left for the Dragons, and a fast improving Taunton side represent a significant hurdle, but everyone should feel proud of their (prodigious) efforts to put the Dragons in a position in which they can win the league in the teams first ever year.
Many thanks to Taff for taking on the stress and abuse of reffing the game too.