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TDA reach the regional finals
THOMAS Deacon Academy progressed to the regional finals when impressing at the Cambridgeshire Schools Under 18 Championships at Cambridge on Thursday.
They topped their qualifying group then beat Wisbech in the semi-finals before losing on penalty strokes to hosts The Leys after a 1-1 draw in the final.
Nevertheless they go into Tuesday’s regional finals at Redbridge full of confidence.
Director of hockey Mike Yeoman was full of praise for the team’s efforts, saying: “The boys played very well. We won one of our games 7-0 and it takes some doing to get scorelines like that in 20 minute matches.”
TDA kicked off the tournament with a match against Kimbolton School, a side they had beaten 5-0 in a friendly a week earlier.
On that occasion TDA had taken 33 minutes to open the scoring but in a shorter game they knew they needed a good start and they immediately put their opponents on the back-foot.
They forced a couple of short corners early on and the second found the back of the net when Ben Newman expertly deflected a pass from Marcus Howard.
With defensive pairing David Fisher and Joe Houghton impressing and debutant Matt Porter playing well in midfield, TDA built on that early goal and were never troubled.
Newman finished off a fine team move to double the advantage and skipper Jordan Heald then fed Nathan Foad to fire home from an acute angle to complete a 3-0 win.
City then went goal-crazy when beating Newport Grammar 7-0 to effectively book their place in the semi-finals.
Newman again opened the scoring early on and Foad scored for the second successive game to double the advantage.
Heald made it 3-0 before Marcus Howard scored with two impressive strikes from the top of the D.
TDA continued to go forward and Foad lifted the ball over the keeper for his second of the game before Sam Barlow sent his side into seventh heaven right at the death.
With a goal difference of 10 from just two games, TDA needed to win or draw their final match to top the group but were up against a Leys School side who had also won both of their matches and boasted two England internationals in their side.
Leys kept TDA pinned in their half for much of the early stages, limiting the city school to breakaway attacks.
However, despite the Leys pressure, TDA coped well and were very solid at the back. Chris Pepper was performing well on the right while Joe Houghton, David Fisher and Ainsley Augustine were proving solid at the back.
Nathan Stephenson pulled off a stunning save to deny Leys and the game eventually fizzled out into a 0-0 which saw TDA top the group.
City made light work of beating Wisbech Grammar 4-0 in the semi-finals, going ahead early on when Jacob Read found space in the D to fire home an impressive upright reverse strike.
Newman found the target again to double the advantage, spinning to make space and then firing past the keeper, and the same player made it 3-0 following a threaded pass by Howard.
Howard completed the scoring when finding space before slotting into the corner as TDA set up a re-match with Leys, who had beaten Perse 3-1 in the other semi-final.
Although both teams had already booked their place at the regional finals, there was plenty at stake with the county title up for grabs and it proved to be another close game.
Leys drew first blood against the run of play on 12 minutes after a bobbling ball into the D was mistakenly left by Stephenson, leaving the Leys forward to roll the ball into an open goal.
With time ticking away, it seemed TDA were on course for an undeserved defeat but they levelled right at the death.
A rash Leys clearance with 15 seconds to go resulted in a TDA short corner and they pushed everyone forward searching for a dramatic equaliser.
They were rewarded when the ball was slipped inside to Pepper who found the net in the final second of the match.
That left penalty strokes to decide the destination of the title and Leys converted their opener while Read saw TDA’s first effort saved.
TDA’s penalty flick expert Michael Kowalski saved the next Leys effort which allowed Newman to level with a flick high to the right.
Leys again took the lead when they converted their third flick and Foad was denied to leave it at 2-1.
Kowalski pulled off another fine save but Heald was unable to pull TDA level and that left Leys needing to convert their final effort for the victory and they made no mistake meaning Howard didn’t need to take his flick.
TDA squad - Nathan Stephenson, Michael Kowalski, Matt Porter, Jordan Heald, Chris Pepper, David Fisher, Ben Newman, Ainsley Augustine, Jacob Read, Nathan Foad, Sam Barlow, Henry Ricketts, Joe Houghton, Marcus Howard.
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Saturday 26 May 2012
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