U15 Indoor Hockey National Championships - Day 2

The big show-down with Queensland! Both Queensland and WA had two losses (to NSW and Victoria) yesterday, with similar margins, so we were expecting that today's game would be close.

At the end of yesterday's game, Matt finally had a run in the forward line, and the team looked much more dangerous and attacking when he was up there. Apparently Nick suggested to JBQ and Oggy that Matt should swap with Ash Ranford, to give them a bit more movement up front. In today's game, Matt was back in the starting line-up, and playing on the left.

The game started very evenly, but after our starting five were mostly subbed off (including Matt), Queensland scored two quick goals from short corners. I was worried that this game could turn into a blow-out if the boys dropped their bundle. They fought hard, and the score remained 2-0 for the rest of the half. Matt slipped over about 15 minutes in, and twisted his knee as he went down. He came off and iced it, and kept the ice-pack on throughout half-time.

Queensland scored again very early in the second half, again off a short corner, and we were now down 0-3. The boys didn't give in, and slowly started to claw their way back. Matt came back on, and they went on to score the next 4 goals! (Including one by Matt, in general field play). It looked like we might finally have a win, but with only about three minutes to go, Queensland scored the equaliser. Then, they were awarded a short corner, and the final siren blew. JBQ couldn't bear to watch, and I almost couldn't watch either! Given that Queensland had scored most of their goals from short corners, I wasn't very confident about our ability to defend one. I couldn't believe we might lose the game after the siren. We saved the first corner, but another was awarded. Once again, the defence held, TJ cleared the ball out of the circle, and we held on for the draw!