DSHC Vs OPM (4-4)

So, DSHC A went into their third game of the season unbeaten against an also unbeaten OPM side at Marjon. From fielding only 10 players last week to 15 this week, the side looked strong and that’s how it started. Devonport had most of the play and passed the ball well for the first 20 minutes and it it wasn’t long before the centre forward fired a shot to the right of the goal and Kyle, being first in the crowd, was on hand to deflect it into the net. The opposition objected to some sort of infringement, but as umpires regularly tell us players, “I can only blow what I see”. Thankfully this time, the umpire didn’t see that Kyle’s deflection was off the back of his stick but we were happy with what the umpire didn’t see! 0-1 to Devonport. A short time later and another similar centre forward strike, this time to the left of goal, was turned in by Yianni using the correct side of his stick to take us 0-2 to the good.

The Devonport back 4, (with a combined age of 201 - and Adam the youngest at 16), were very strong with with Fred and Adam putting in some amazing block tackles and clearing the lines time and time again throughout the whole game.
However, the game started to go a little awry after the second goal as OPM then started playing much better and stretching Devonport causing our shape to falter. With some slick passing by them, the ball ended up at the top of the Devonport D and was duly dispatched cleanly beyond a wrong footed Codie to bring the score to 1-2 not long before Half time!

Devonport started the 2nd half well again and came out fighting. Reece Moore continued where he left off in the first half and put in some awesome work down the right hand side. He was eventually rewarded when he drove the ball into the right hand side of OPMs D and pulled back a great cross, which was deflected by a defender into his own goal. Reece swears it was a shot at goal, but no one in a red shirt cared as it went in. 1-3 to Devonport.
Then, as a cheerleading delegation from the men’s 1st team and a few ladies turned up to cheers us on, the pressure to impress seemed too great. We went from being ‘boss’ to second best as our ‘Fans on the Hill’ saw us concede 3 well worked OPM goals and losing our 1-3 advantage to bring the score to 4-3 to OPM. Something had to happen and Reece kept up his battles with their defence and on a great break, he forced the keeper miss the ball and blatantly tackling Reece to the ground which was rewarded with a Penalty Flick.

The Devonport players gasped in horror as they saw Fred walk up to take the flick before he was shoved away by Reece wanting his revenge! (Phew)! Reece duly dispatched the ball beautifully into the back of the goal and we hung in for the last minutes of the game for a well earned point and a 4-4 draw!

A good team performance against a good OPM side! Every player, (even the broken Russ Cooke who ran the subs bench) received MoM points.
There were several stand out performances, especially in defence (again) but with the MoM points counted the scores were as follows. In 3rd place with 11 points was Adam. 2nd place with 14 points was Fred. (Outstanding defensive work by both).

MoM with 21 points was Reece Moore for a great performance on the wing and up front. There wasn’t any real candidates for DoD so the only thing worth voting for was someone leaving his stick in the dugout after the match. Not really a DoD offence but the votes were given regardless and DoD was Alex Jarvis. Well done all and special thanks to Russ and to the Supporters on the hill for coming out to cheer us on. (Even though you Jinx’d us, it was hugely appreciated). ??