Wednesbury 2-3 Lichfield

1st Team match report Sat 14th

First friendly warm up for pre-season games and Wednesbury had a reasonable selection with the exception of Jack Simmonds, Andrew Dean, Bradley Bellingham, Connor Hayward and Satnam Singh Sehra.
The game was umpired by league officials with one being assessed on the day. A big thank you to Rob Crosson for organising umpires for this game.

It took all of three minutes for the first goal to be scored and this was a fine flick from a penalty corner scored by Scott Craddock. Lichfield dumb struck by the goal piled on the pressure and on 5 1/2 mins they equalised when a loose runner from Lichfield wrong footed Nathan Bourne who had to return today as Goal keeper due to the unavailability of Jack Simmonds.
The game continued a quite a fast pace considering the beautiful sunshine which must have been debilitating for the players. Four penalty corners were conceded by Wednesbury as Lichfield continued with a full press which Wednesbury were just about able to cope with. A quick break from a long ball out of defence to young Joel Wall saw the teenager run almost half the pitch but just couldn't find the net as the keeper rushed out.
Lichfield took the lead on 21 mins with a conversion from a penalty corner and although the pressure from Lichfield was constant having two more penalty corners before the break, Wednesbury took the lead from a penalty corner just before the half time whistle when Jack Edwards got the goal from a touch in at the post. Nice to see Jack back with us after being away for the last 18 months and not playing.

The second half started and the pressure was from Wednesbury for the first 5 mins but the rest of the half was all Lichfield with attack after attack, some 6 penalty corners one resulting in the equalising goal on 63 mins. It was a bad ball out from defence that started this one.
The last minute of the game and a penalty corner was given against Wednesbury and the only criticism of the umpires was what ensued. On at least three occasions there was a definite infringement by Wednesbury and the umpire played advantage but the final shot was saved off the line by a player with his stick. The umpire went back to the first infringement and awarded a penalty flick. I felt no as the advantage had been given over and over and the final shot was saved. The decision should have been a 16 hit to Wednesbury. However the flick was given and although the keeper got close Lichfield scored and the whistle went. Final score Wednesbury 2 v 3 Lichfield

It was a good game and the score would have reflected just that had it remained a draw at the whistle but there were some positives to take from the game and some areas highlighted to be worked on to better the performances moving forward.

JT