Hertford VI 1 - 3 Southgate Adelaide III

Frustrating result to a game in which we played some really good hockey but couldn't finish off our chances. They had a very good keeper (it didn't help that we usually hit the ball straight at him) and a very strong centre mid and that was enough to outweigh our dominance on most of the rest of the pitch. Southgate scored first after a ragged start, but we were soon putting them under pressure, Nick and Chris Duncan repeatedly opening them up down the right. We somehow failed to score from one long goal mouth scramble, before Chris Dean finally got us level. Southgate edged ahead before the break, but we overran them in the 3rd quarter, playing a fast-moving mixture of long and short passes. Daryl->Nick->Chris Duncan-> cross from the right was the standard pattern, with Dave Harding battering through the middle for variety; the shots came in, we won some short corners, but the vital deflections and follow-ups just didn't happen. Aodhan got closest, flashing one of Chris Duncan's crosses inches wide, but it was Southgate who snatched the only goal of the half on the break. Two reflections: 1) when we started taking free hits quickly, we looked very dangerous - we need to keep working on that. 2) more of the crosses need to come back to the top of the D rather than across the face of the goal.