New Revolution open up nine-point lead in indoor hockey league

New Revolution picked up two more victories in the latest round of matches to open up a nine-point lead in the indoor hockey league, while there were also wins for Crusaders and Lobbyless, who move into second place.

Eric Brown Shield

Crusaders 4, Zetland 2

The game started with a fast attack from Zetland putting them in the lead after just 10 seconds.

Crusaders were quick to react and equalised through a well-struck shot from Rona Simpson.

This was a fast flowing game with end-to-end play and determination from both sides, which saw Zetland’s Ian Jamieson break free and slot the ball past Darren Thomson into the bottom right hand corner, just before the half-time whistle, giving them the 2-1 lead.

Having found their form, Crusaders started the second half hungry for a goal and took advantage, putting the Zetland defence under strain early, but were denied several times by Debi Kane’s heroics in the goals.

Crusaders’ Kara Thomson saw an opportunity to make a fast break and drive the ball up the pitch, to find Paul Grant who slotted the ball into the back of the net.

With the pressure mounting, Crusaders were fast back with another goal from Paul Grant and a goal from Gayle Johnson, ending the game 4-2.

Players of the match were Rona Simpson for Crusaders and Debi Kane for Zetland.

New Revolution 5, Hurricanes 0

The much-anticapated meeting of two big guns of the indoor league brought together the mighty New Revolution and the stormy Hurricanes.

With both teams sharing the same training ground, it was always going to be a determined but fair affair with both teams wanting to win the bragging rights for the night.

The game started with the Hurricanes taking the pass back and spreading the ball around neatly were Naomi Johnson, Michelle Stark and Jillian Copland, with Bradley Mackenzie and Robert Turnbull trying to pierce the New Rev defence of Kevin Gifford and Peter Sharp.

But there was no way through for them. New Rev were able to get a hold of the ball and cause problems for the Hurricanes team with the skills and movement of Stacey Laurenson and Emma Gray linking up well with Bryan Irvine.

From an attack down the right by New Rev the ball was able to to be cut back to find Gray ready to pounce to fire the New Rev into the lead.

The game was really hotting up in the middle of the pitch with both teams trying to get a grip. Then came a moment of madness from Hurricanes’ Jillian Copland, sending Sharp into the deck as he was driving forward with a real threat. With Copland expecting the sin bin she was relieved to see only a free hit was awarded for such a foul by umpire Simon Skinner. New Rev were able to score another with good work from Emma Gray in the D and finding the bottom corner of the goal.

The second half was started by New Rev and they were able to win a few short corners and try a variety of differant set pieces, with Stacey Laurenson going close on a couple of occasions, but they found the Hurricanes well organised.

New Rev won another short corner and this time Laurenson squared the ball to Peter Sharp who managed to find the bottom left corner with a powerful strike to make it 3-0.

The Hurricanes were not giving up and nice play by Stark on the right found Turnbull in the centre whose shot brought out the best from Kate Moncrieff in the New Rev goal.

New Rev’s Lorrie Robertson was finding some space on the left and from a good ball from her found Bryan Irvine driving in to the D and he finally found his target to score through the legs of Neil Pearson.

In the closing minutes of the game Emma Gray was able to get her hat trick with another well-taken goal to make the final score 5-0.

Players of the match were New Rev’s Emma Gray with her hat trick and Noami Johnson for the Hurricanes.

Deltmavine 1, New Revolution 3

The top of the table clash between Deltmavine and New Rev proved to be a hard day’s night for the Delts.

The game started with a bang as Andrew Aitken put the New Rev defence under pressure early on, which was coped with well by New Rev’s Peter and Kevin.

It was New Rev, however, who were creating the better chances and they got an early lead through an unfortunate own goal from Deltmavine. But Deltmavine managed to limit New Rev to a 1-0 lead at half time thanks to some great defending from Debbie Robertson and goalkeeping from Toni Sidgwick.

In the second half it was not long before Stacey Laurenson slipped one past Sidgwick to make it 2-0. New Rev were getting better all the time and further increased their lead to 3-0.
The Delts had a revelation at this point and Peter Sidgwick managed to get one back to make it 3-1.

Players of the match were Debbie Robertson for Deltmavine and Peter Sharp for New Revolution.

Zetland 2, Lobbyless 6

The first half started with both teams being evenly matched until James Aitken of Lobbyless opened the scoring.

Zetland regrouped and equalised after a solo run from Ian Jamieson but Lobbyless came back with another goal from Aitken.

In the second half Lobbyless put pressure on Zetland defender Lara Jamieson with a great goal from Haydn Thomason making it three. James Aitken got another two and Fiona Shearer added her name to the score sheet with a great goal.

Zetland fought on and Matthew Anderson scored a goal from a penalty flick to make it two for Zetland.

Players of the match were Stacey Gardner for Zetland and James Aitken for Lobbyless.