Hockey

Marjons 1

Caradon Men 2

Caradon's men travelled to Marjons in Plymouth again on Saturday to face Marjons C team, in what they knew would be their toughest test yet.

In spite of this, spirits were high and the pre-match team talk included a rendition of 'Happy Birthday' to Tyler Walsh. 

The home side attacked the Cornish side straight away, hemming them into their own half. However, the visitors' first break came quite quickly after a Marjons' attack broke down. Tim Wright took the Caradon free hit and found an unmarked Neil Spencer on the halfway line. A quick turn and a lightning fast run past the Marjons' defence set up a nice pass to Tyler Walsh. Walsh easily lost the last defender and danced round the diving Marjons' keeper to put the ball into the now open goal – 1-0 to Caradon.

This gave Caradon confidence and the game became more even. The visitors got a break when they were awarded a penalty corner, the ball was passed wide to Paul Luiten who stepped into the circle and smashed the ball into the far corner of the home team's goal to extend Caradons lead. They did score another but this was disallowed, so the first half ended 2-0 to Caradon.

Marjons came out even faster at the re-start determined to try to claw back the goals and the lead in the league table and Caradon were pinned back into their own half for almost the remainder of the game.

Marjons had a run of penalty corners against the visitors but all were met with strong defence. Keeper Toby Riddle blocked shots on the ground and batted them out of air, with Tim Wright sweeping away any that made it past. The constant pressure from the home side was starting to show and a shot across the visitors' circle was deflected into the Caradon goal.

Marjon continued to push after the restart and it wasn't long until Caradon were battling well inside their own half. But the defence were now firing on all cylinders and Marjons just couldn't find a way through. Even when keeper Riddle dived a little early, the pressure applied by Martin Batty and Paul Luiten denied the attacker any chance of a shot.

Spencer managed to get on the end of a long pass and outpaced his defender easily to get into the Marjons' circle. The home keeper ploughed into Spencer and the umpires thought the challenge was acceptable so no penalty was awarded. Caradon's discipline held firm and held off Marjons until the final whistle to ensure a 2-1 victory. 

This was Caradon's hardest game to date and was the biggest test yet for its defensive line-up.

The win moves Caradon four points clear at the top of the South West 1 league.