Knights @ Wilmslow mini Tournament - 11/08/13

The Knights where invited to play in the Wilmslow Mini Tournament involving Wilmslow 1st
team (Premier 1), Norbury and Stoke. All adult teams.

We had a lot of players away on Holiday or attending England Practice, however we still had a great group of talented players and also called up Ryan Sweetman (Brooklands & England U19), Matt Boyd (Cheadle & England U19) and also Coach Rowlinson played in the Norbury game.

We played Wilmslow 1st team first in a very competitive game against an experienced 1st team.
Our Defense started well and limited their chances in the first half, we had limited possessions to begin with but still had some chances but couldn't finish inside!

Tim Collins was matched up against Mike Jordan (not that one) who is a very strong face-off man and after a few possessions Tim started to work him out, by using his speed and skill we began to win possession and this gave us a chance to get back into the game!

Boyd and Sweetman where the engine room in Midfield and really started to step up and create for us!

Goals from Ben Smith, Steve Ewing 2, Ryan Sweetman got us back into the game and we drew level later in the 4th Quarter with 2 goals from Alex Russell.

LSM Josh Turner was his usual self and was all over the field, stripping the ball and carrying up field.

Elliott Hurry made some special saves in the second half and kept it very close.

It was great to see Tig and Joe Baythorpe back playing after their Injuries in the US, they both looked back to their best and you could tell they where enjoying being out there again!

The game finished 6-6, I was very proud of the high level of play shown from the Knights, the team consisted of players from our tour in 2013 and 4 from 2011, we where playing a team that plays in the Premier Division in the UK every week. The players have shown great improvement and had confidence in their own ability!

23 Men!

We then played Norbury in the second game and where too much for them to handle, we won the game by at least 6 goals and looked very impressive!

Goals from Steve Ewing 6, Alex Russell, Greg Rowlinson and a great outside rip from Joe Baythorpe.

Norbury looked frustrated at the end of the game and took a cheap shot running through Steve Ewings pick on the crease, it should have resulted in a penalty and did not go along with the Friendly nature of the tournament!

The Knights really enjoyed getting back together and would like to thank Wilmslow for inviting us to the Tournament.

                                           Goalie - Mike Connor with a pole?