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Cup defeat leaves Belper to concentrate on league
EHL Cup, fourth round
Belper 2
Birmingham University 2
(Birmingham won 5-4 on penalty strokes)
BELPER finally got their England Hockey Cup tie against Biormingham University under way after poor weather conditions had delayed the game, previously scheduled for November 2009.
With both teams playing their first competitive game of the new year, the reward for the victors was a quarter final tie against EHL East Conference side Sevenoaks.
In a tie full of incident, quality, and some determined defending, the game didn’t disappoint, although for the home side the final result did.
Head coach Ben Lamb commented: “We played very well and certainly deserved to go through on the showing we gave. to take one" commented Ben Lamb. "Birmingham converted one more than us so they progress. That's life".
The game started at a great pace, with Belper imposing themselves in the early exchanges. With the pressure mounting, Belper had several good opportunities to score from open play and penalty corners before Birmingham stung the Nailers on the break.
A hopeful overhead was not dealt with in the Belper defence and as the ball broke to the Birmingham forward a three-on-two situation found the ball full to the striker on the top of the circle who buried his shot into the roof of the net.
The set-back didn't change the mentality of the home side and they picked themselves up and created more good opportunities.
Five minutes before the break, Belper again caused themselves more problems as the ball was given away cheaply and Biormingham forced a penalty corner.
From the corner, Birmingham scored their second goal as they went into half-time 2-0 to the good.
Belper's reaction was immediate in the second half, as they looked to turn the game around.
With Birmingham put under increasing pressure, Belper finally got on the scoresheet after a great pass from substitute Jono Miles found Tom Sherratt in the circle who cleverly deflected in.
With tails up, Belper took the game to the visitors and minutes later they were level. This time James Blackwell provided the pass for Tom Sherratt to collect, turn and shoot through the goalkeeper’s legs.
At 2-2 Belper looked far stronger and dominated possession and territory. With two minutes left, controversy broke out. Tom Sherratt, on a hat-trick, found himself on the penalty spot, back to goal and the ball at his feet. A quick turn and a shot on the reverse saw the ball fly into the net to send the crowd wild.
Howeve,r the umpire had other ideas as he disallowed the goal for use of the back of the stick and then to add insult, he sent Sherratt off as he deemed the player to have cheated.
Without video replay we will never know what did really happen.
With Belper smarting, the game fizzled out and extra time created very little in the way of goal scoring opportunities for both sides, so as time ended the lottery of penalty strokes began.
Tied at 4-4 after the first five flicks, the game went to sudden death, Birmingham converted, Belper didn't and that was that.
With bigger games to come for the Nailers, they will dust themselves down and prepare for the visit of Doncaster in the league this Sunday. The EHL Conference North game starts at 1.30pm.
Fixtures for Sunday, February 7
BELPER v Doncaster (1.30pm)
Barford Tigers v Harborne (12.30pm)
Sheffield University Bankers v
Sheffield Hallam Civica (1.30pm)
University of Durham v Formby (1.30pm)
Leek v Deeside (2pm)
TablePWDLFAPts
Deeside Ramblers10811442025
Leek10703312321
Harborne10523251717
Doncaster10523191917
University of Durham9513222016
Sheffield Hallam Civica9504301915
Sheffield University Bkrs10316172910
BELPER1030724309
Barford Tigers1013620346
Formby1012713345
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Weather for Belper
Sunday 05 February 2012
Today
Sunny spells
Temperature: 2 C to 6 C
Wind Speed: 8 mph
Wind direction: West
Tomorrow
Cloudy
Temperature: 1 C to 5 C
Wind Speed: 8 mph
Wind direction: North
