3s win away!

Halfway through the first half of our game against Durham, we were 1-0 down – a weak shot rolling under the defender’s stick following a sloppy short corner. We’d been poor, our only real chance a Jack Johnstone effort hit straight at the keeper from a narrow angle. We had been slow, uncoordinated, disorganised. Unmotivated. We had been awful.

We didn’t look back.

The comeback started almost immediately after. A Freddie Potier Godinho shot from a short corner struck the keeper on the kneepad, but minuets later, a clever through ball ‘round the corner’ from Matt George sent Chris Ferrier in the clear to fire home and equalise for Jesmond. As the half drew to a close, the ball fell to Ferrier again but he was unlucky to scuff his shot in space at the penalty spot.

After a substantial delay whilst searching for a suitable ball (!), the second half got underway. We’d changed our shape, emphasising the wide players and trying to impose ourselves on the game. We began to make inroads down the right, with hard running from the wing-backs and wingers, whilst the central midfield was controlled by Amine Turay and Peter Basta, who received the man-of –the-match award for his dominating presence in the middle of the park. Gradually Durham retreated and a lovely team goal followed, with a transfer to the left wing sending the ball to Freddie Potier Godinho. His deft flick found George Hampton, who tapped home for his first ever Jesmond gaol (and probably his last!) Leading 2-1, we now turned on the style and began to play some excellent hockey.

The mobile, rotating front three were causing real problems to a slightly leggy Durham defence and left-back Phil Woodsford was providing an excellent outlet on the left flank, but it was from the other wing that our next goal came. A tackle and nutmeg from Will Green sent Jesmond racing down the pitch towards the opposition D; Green's ball inside found Matt George, who once again assisted Chris Ferrier after running the full way around the D. Ferrier didn’t need a second thought and smashed the ball home.

As the game wore on, chances became fewer, but our lead never looked in doubt. All in all, we played a superb 55 minutes, with one 15-minute blip – keeper Ben Redpath didn’t make a save, whilst captain Grant Folley was constantly appearing at both ends of the pitch! A special mention goes to Adam Humphries who volunteered to wash the match kit, as well as being mostly excellent during the game. A great performance and hopefully we can build on this ready for next time. See you then.