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Photos: Philip Mourdjis
Defending champions Alcuin romped to victory against a weakened Vanbrugh side, but wastefulness in front of goal meant that the margin of victory could have been far greater.
Whether the match would go ahead at all was in question until the last minute due to a shortage of Vanbrugh players. Luckily a fifth player, the minimum needed for the match to proceed, arrived at the last moment.
As expected Alcuin made use of their two-man advantage and dominated possession controlling all areas of the court. At the start of the first half the ball rarely, if ever, entered into the Alcuin half as they were able to cut through the Vanbrugh defence at will like a hot knife through butter. Vanburgh did eventually gain a foothold in the game with Sarah Dodds breaking through to score two points.
The first half ended 12-2 and it could have been a lot more had Goal Attack Charlotte Winter not been in uncharacteristically sub-par form scoring only two goals in the first period, something she put down to playing as Goal Attack instead of her favoured goal shooter. However luckily Goal Shooter Lottie Freeman was in good enough form to make this a moot point.
It must be recognised that Vanbrugh showed a great deal of spirit, making some fine interceptions and some incisive passes, but they were severely hamstrung by the deficit in manpower and that they were never seriously in contention.
The second half continued in much the same vein with Alcuin dominating while barely having to get out of second gear, while Vanbrugh went through periods of good play making some crisp passes, and perhaps troubling the Alcuin defence more than in the first half with Dodds once again scoring two points. Also helping Alcuin was the return to form of Charlotte Winter as the half progressed as Alcuin ran out 23-4 winners.
Alcuin captain Megan Knight expressed her satisfaction with performance believing that it would provide “good practice and breathing room for bigger matches in the future”. This is something that is hard to dispute as Alcuin look to be in a good position to challenge again for honours.
Teams
Vanbrugh
GA- Sarah Dodds
GS- Caitlin Graham
C- Natalie Poole (C)
GD- Emily Churchill
GK-Rachel Wood
Alcuin
GA- Charlotte Winter
GS- Lottie Freeman
WA- Amy Ballard
C- Emma Houlden
WD-Megan Knight (C)
GD- Grace Clarke
GK- Millie Harrison