National Div 4 - Cardiff Bs

On Saturday 2nd March, 7 players for the Cardiff B team went up to Cheltenham to play in the latest National Division 4 South West league tournament.

We had 4 games in total, the first of which was a victory. I can't remember off of the top of my head the name of the team we were playing, but it was a fairly positive start to the day. There were some clear signs of improvement from our previous team matches; players knew where to be and that keeping your cool was the best bet.

So the second game was against Bridgend. This was a game that really required a win, and was going to be the hardest of the four. The sprint was won by yours truly as you can see below. Usain Bolt would have had a tough time keeping up.

Rob Haley doing what he does best - winning!!!

Unfortunately this really is where the good things ended. The game was super scrappy, with lots of fouls not being called. I would like to say that the referees were just missing one or two, but there were simply too many during the game. To be completely impartial whilst writing, as I wouldn't want to sacrifice my integrity as a blogger, the fouls were not being called for either team. Bridgend took advantage more that Cardiff, pushing the boundary of what I would suggest is sportsman-like, yet it was a very young team and you can understand that they are still getting to grips with the fun of the game over purely driving for a win at any cost.  Cardiff's issue was with the fact that we were getting frustrated on the pitch, and this lead to missed opportunities, which we had many of. I believe the overall score was 2-0, and this reflected a loss of control from a team that should be at a stage that they can keep their cool.

The last two games were against Bristol Polarbears and Bristol Panthers. These were a couple of cracking games.

The first of the two games was against the Polarbears, which was a close contest. Cardiff was trying to play 5-out, which is essentially man marking. This has to be played very tight, otherwise it leaves the goal completely open for a shot from anywhere on the pitch. Although a slow uptake, the tactic worked fairly well. I'm not sure if fitness is the issue, or simply a lack of understanding, because the 'man marking' was fairly loose and this lead to some issues. This game ended in a draw. And in my book a draw is as good as a loss!

The final game of the day was against the Panthers, whom I believe were meant to be the better team. You can see one of their team (purple) in a sprint against the Meridian (black) side in the league below (this happens to be a foul. What I like about it is that he puts his paddle up in the last frame as to say 'I haven't done anything wrong here').

A cracking end to a sprint

This game was another corker, with Cardiff again attempting the 5-out play. I say attempting because the play we were running looked nothing like a 5-out should; with complete disorder from our team. However the Bristol team seemed unable to convert the chances they got (due to the poor defence/marking from us) and we happened to win this game, which was a nice ending to the day.

Overall I would suggest the day was a positive for the B team, we saw our failing from last time and improved slightly. Although we had issues this tournament, we can surely work on these for the future.