Cardiff City Korfball Club

Cardiff City Squad

Josh Cockburn, Elaine Hutchings, Rachel Knight, Sian Hunt, Susan Belfourd, Dave Walker, Terry Matthews, Dave Thomas, Gareth Price

Brief summary by Dave Thomas

The pendulum has swung back towards Cardiff City for the moment, as they avenged last year's defeat in this fixture with a nervy win in Bristol.

Cardiff City still seemed to be coming to terms with the long and narrow court when the first two goals went in. First a well worked running-in then a penalty, and with Cardiff's attack mis-firing, an early 2-0 deficit was just what we didn't need. Defences were to dominate for the next 10 minutes or so as both teams hammered away to little effect. Coach Terry will be pleased to note that Cardiff were carving out the better chances and sure enough, the tying goals finally came. Both were from good spinning moves by Rachel, the first of which she scored from directly, and the miss from the second allowed Elaine her trade-mark rebound stick-back from near the baseline.

Taking advantage of the fact that for once Taff was marking someone his own height, Cardiff's attack tried some floated 'over the feeder' type passes, and a perfectly executed throw from Sian set up the simplest of chances which Taff converted. Susan then showed Taff how penalties should be taken and Cardiff were 4-2 up at the half.

The first goal of the second half was always going to be crucial, and Elaine duly provided it from distance, but the breathing space was short lived as a penalty allowed Bristol back in it. A beautiful one-touch pass from Dave set up Taff for a another simple close in finish and 6-3, and when Elaine and Josh both sank distance efforts, Cardiff had built an 8-4 lead going in to the final quarter.

If Cardiff's much improved rebounding display had been the main factor in the third quarter, some horrendous defensive lapses meant that over the next ten minutes Bristol were to be gifted 3 easy chances while Cardiff managed one more solitary long-distance goal, and Bristol were back in it at 9-7.

As the game clock wound down Dave set up a mid-range shot for Susan, and a 10-7 lead was looking promising - but two late penalties calmly despatched by Bristol brought us to a nervous finish, and it was just left to Dave to cap an excellent defensive display by intercepting Bristol's last few frantic attacks and leave us 10-9 winners.

Cardiff will look back on a patchy display. Too many penalties were conceded (Taff's the most comical given that he managed to get flattened while conceding it) and at times we looked content to sit back and let Bristol take the game to us. However, it's worth noting that between about the 6th minute and the 45th, Bristol only scored twice. Some more defending of that calibre will be welcome throughout the season.

And of course, big thanks Tony from Exeter for reffing us once again.

Cardiff City	10	9	Bristol City
Elaine Hutchings	3
Susan Belfourd	2
Josh Cockburn	2
Dave Thomas	2
Rachel Knight	1

Cardiff City Second team Squad

Josh Cockburn, Terry Matthews, Gareth Price, Rob Cooper, Kate Phillips, Holly Sisley, Abi Bullock, Key Lewis, Gwen Jones

Some of the seconds warming up like the pros they are.

The second team match up was something of a disappointment for Cardiff City since the game was irretrievably shortened due to the firsts mincing on for too long. There was time for club debuts for Kate Phillips and Holly Sisley, the latter marking her first appearance with a nicely taken goal. The other came from Abi (another first for the club) and she's obviously been taking goal celebration lessons from Josh. Bristol seconds replied with 2 goals of their own, but in truth the match was too short to take on much shape, although the low score had everything to do with well organised defences than any lack of shooting skills. And at least with Taff finally off the pitch he could get some photos - enjoy.

"Call party then Rob!"