Cheadle Thunder v Thameside Lightning 9/7/2011 "Storm in a Tea-Cup"

First Half:

I arrived a minute late to see the first basket go to Thameside's burly #52. Not a good start for CT. 

 

Joe and Matt A pulled the team ahead soon after, but Cheadle gave a lacklustre performance for the following 10 minutes. The CT players seemed to hang back,  waiting for the chances to turn up and reluctant to tackle. 

 

TL, on the other hand looked aggressive and played an aggressive game. Luckily for Cheadle they didn't have the skills to turn that aggression into baskets.

With only 5 minutes to go, and with TL tiring, Cheadle finally got back into the game with scores from Joe, Karl and Dan.

Half Time Score: CT - 12; TL - 4

Second Half:

TL came out at the beginning of the half just as aggressive as they were in the first, and CT's response for the first 9 minutes was as weak as in the first half. Again, Cheadle players just didn't seem to want to tackle, or even to get close to their opponents. The ball went up and down the court. Nobody scored. 

 

The match did perk up a bit in the last 10 minutes. TL could not keep up the pace they'd set and looked fed-up at making so little progress. In response, Cheadle attacked with more confidence. In a more open game TL took their chances and made a few baskets, but Josh, Karl and Joe all helped to make the final score look like respectable if not brilliant win for CT.

Final Score: CT-26; TL-11.

Stats:

CT: Joe - 10; Karl - 8; Josh - 4; Matt F, Dan - 2 each.

TL: #52 -4; #53, #50 - 2; #45 - 1. (Yes, the score doesn't add up again, I've missed a basket somewhere)

Pros and Cons:

Not sure why, but CT played a very cautious, defensive game in response to a lot of aggression from TL. The Cheadle defence worked well enough, and TL found it hard to score. But they weren't going to give the ball away either, and Cheadle weren't trying hard enough to take it from them.

TL looked a lot scarier than they were (we only had 2 men off injured after all and neither of them were kicked or punched!). And TL didn't have the skills to match their aggression.  I can't help thinking that CT would have done better by meeting that aggression with a lot more attacking play.

Next time we should aim to take them to pieces. 

 

Highlights

Hard to find highlights in this match but good work from Joe and I think this was a personal best for Karl. And congrats to Dan for his out of the blue basket at the end of the first half.