Dragons retain Bristol Tournament
As is traditional, the Bristol tournament was played under hot sunshine, and Dragons were optimistic of retaining the title they won last summer (well, a team wearing Dragons tops won last summer, though lots of the players were from City!) with a squad of: Rachel, Helen, Ang, Ruth, hey boyfriend Stu - who plays National League for Bec, Gareth, Chris, Josh and Taff.
The first game was against Cardiff City, who had brought a large squad, primarily consisting of second team players. Games against them are always competitive though, and Dragons had to work for a 3-0 victory.
There then followed two very comfortable wins against Bristol Uni (8-1) and Oxford City (7-1). These results meant that Dragons had qualified for the quarter-finals with a game to spare - fortunately, as that game was lost 6-2 against Pure Magic, a very strong side mainly made up of British student squad players.
In the quarter-final, we were pitted against Scratchy, a team based around Nottingham players. They drew a scratchy sort of performance from Dragons who made lots of basic errors, including Josh missing a penalty, but we just did enough to win 3-2.
In the semi, we were paired against a Castle side who had one very good player, while the rest of the team was solid too. Dragons started well with 2 long shots going in. However, Castle fought back to trail by only 4-3 and with a clinching goal refusing to go in, Dragons had to defend well to hold that lead for the last 5 minutes.
The final was a re-match against Pure Magic and Dragons didn’t go into the game with much confidence, particularly after falling 2 goals behind. However, as the defence tightened up, Stu and Josh landed long shots and morale began to rise. Pure Magic were also disrupted by losing one of their key players to injury at this stage, and although he returned at half-time, Dragons had made the most of the opportunity with Taff and Stu scoring either side of a free-pass for the Magic, and we led 4-3 at half-time.
The lead seemed very fragile, but Dragons were now playing their best korfball of the day and extended their lead through Josh’s second long shot. Pure Magic won a penalty direct from the restart, but then Chris scored from the back corner to make it 6-4. Another goal then would surely have clinched it for Dragons, but several shots bounced off the rim, while some scrambling team defence was only just keeping Magic out at the other end. Eventually the Magic goals did come and with time running out the score was 6-6. Dragons reacted perfectly though, Ang scoring with a drop-off and we held on to win 7-6.
A very enjoyable tournament, and particularly to see Taff manage to complete it without injury. Thanks to him and Chris for reffing, and to everyone who drove there.