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Viking Polo - End of Season Update The final Division One tournament of the season saw all the teams head to Hull for a weekend that would decide the final positions for the season. Viking A headed to the tournament sitting in second place knowing they had to rely on other teams to beat Meridian A who were top to have a chance of taking the title.
The weather was disappointing as Viking A took to the water for there first game against Viking B always a tricky proposition, goals from Tom Baston and Nick Archer however paved the way for a 3-0 victory which could have been more had a little more vision been shown in the attack.
The next game saw Viking up against Meridian C who had acquired the services of Neil Edmunds to bolster there attacking options. The game was a lot tighter than Viking would have liked with errors in the defense and the attack giving away possession, however goals from Nick Archer, Martyn Williamson, Tom Baston and Leo Townes earned a 4-3 victory.
The 3rd game of the day saw Viking come up against Aberfan a team fighting for there Div 1 status, again the game was closer than maybe it should have been, an early Viking goal was cancelled out by a long range effort that shouldn’t have beaten the Viking goalkeeper Matt Morris. However just before half time Viking regained there lead with a well worked goal scored by Captain Nick Archer. The second half saw Aberfan put more pressure on the Viking defense with no finishing product and finally getting caught out on the break with a goal from Martyn Williamson giving a final score of 3-1 to Viking.
The last game of the day on paper should have been Vikings hardest against a Dragon team bolstered by their Irish inputs. This didn’t seem to be the case however as Viking cruised into a commanding 4-0 lead. Two late goals by one of Dragons Irish players made it a more tense finish than it might have been but Viking had enough in there locker to hold out for a 4-2 victory.
As before Viking hadn’t really got going but had done enough to keep themselves in the hunt with some moments of good play and some well taken goals. With four wins out of four an early night was on the cards before facing the other top ranked teams on “Big Sunday”
9am saw Viking come up against St Albans who over the years had edged these early morning encounters, but not today! Viking took the lead half way through the first half with a goal from Leo Townes but were soon pegged back with a St Albans equalizer. Play almost immediately went down the other end and Viking regained their lead with a well worked break making the score 2-1 to Viking at half time. The second half turned out to be arguably Vikings best half of the season with some strong defending and fast breaking allowing a further 3 goals to be scored making the final score 5-1.
With FOA failing to beat Meridian A earlier in the day the Viking v Meridian game turned into a must win game for Viking to stand any chance of taking the title. It proved too much for Viking with 3 individual errors costing three goals and a 3-0 defeat, although Viking did string together some good periods of play they were unable to get back into the game.
The last game of Vikings season should have been against FOA however thanks to an earlier sending off of one of there main players against Meridian A they had decided to forfeit the rest of their season in protest, resulting in a 5-0 Viking win.
Viking A finished the season in 2nd place an improvement on last season but with the players knowing they had more to offer and the work has already begun in preparation for next season where hopefully they can go one better! (Posted on the 23rd May 2007 by timb) |
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