Sleeping beast awakens to win three from three

THE 'sleeping beast' woke in fine style on Saturday as Investec Colombians were undefeated in the opening round of the Investec Division One Men's Knockout Cup. The reigning champions did not concede a goal all day at Foote's Lane as they overcame Mosgrove Yobbos, Coreix Unwantables and Beavers, who had beaten them 5-2 in the league at the start of the month.

Colombians have not been at their best recently and their captain, Kees Jager, had described his team as a sleeping beast that would be pushing for glory later on in the season.

'We definitely woke up today,' he said.

'Basically, the lads did everything that was asked of them and then some. We had a very small squad of 12 but the work rate was brilliant.

'It's basically a 6-0 win over the course of the day. Even though we won it last year, historically we've been a bad cup side but it's all come together today.

'And when we won it last year, we lost the first three games. Today we showed the quality that hopefully we can build on and win every game this season.'

The format of the cup sees a round robin as the four division one teams play each other in shortened 20 minutes-a-half games.

The second round is towards the end of the season, with the two top teams then playing each other in a final.

In their first match, Colombians took care of their great rivals, Beavers, 2-0.

Beavers' young forward, Chris Hallam, had a golden chance to put his team ahead in the opening stages but his shot was straight at Jager.

At a Colombians short corner a minute later, TJ Ozanne put his team ahead when he got the ball past Beavers' keeper Jason Robilliard and into the roof of the net from an impossibly tight angle.

Their second came in the middle of the second half when Tim Creasey showed some classy skills to turn an out-rushing Robilliard and put the ball home.

Next up they had an easier time when they faced Yobbos, who had defeated Unwantables 1-0 in the opening match of the day.

Two goals from Phil Radford and a strike from Kit Wrightson gave them the rubber.

Then, in their last game, an own goal from Unwantables defender Nick Mann was enough to give the yellows the victory and the full nine points on offer from the first round.

Colombians' best player of the day was undoubtedly their skilful playmaker Tristan Cairns, who bossed the middle of the park at will.

Cairns echoed his captain's sentiments.

'We just had to prove it to ourselves,' he said.

'It was quite important after our loss to Beavers that we did that. Hopefully that will put us in good stead for the second half of the season.'

Beavers go into the next round on six points as their only defeat came at the hands of Colombians.

In possibly the best game, they managed to overcome a spirited Unwantables team 3-2.

In their new light-blue kit, Unwantables' striker Dan Slimm put his side ahead early on before Hallam got one back for Beavers.

Into the second half, Elizabeth College's Daniel Wray put the dark blues in the lead after Martin Gray could not quite stop his shot on the line.

Slimm levelled things shortly afterwards but a short drag flick from Barry Wallace ultimately gave Beavers the match.

The current league leaders then went on to beat Yobbos 2-1 with their captain, Andy Whalley, and Hallam getting on the score sheet.

'The thing is, it's the just the end of the first round and we're sat in second so we're still positioned well for the second phase,' said Whalley.

'All together we played some good hockey but again it was the age-old problem: we didn't put the goals away. But I'm pretty pleased.'

Yobbos finished in third place.

After their opening 1-0 win over Unwantables, their day went downhill with the defeats to Colombians and Beavers.

But one plus point was the performance of their 15-year-old midfielder, Jonny Clark, who played maturely and assuredly in all three matches.

Their captain, Steve Ward, who was on the sidelines with a hamstring injury, was full of praise for the Elizabeth College player and fellow juniors Tim Ravenscroft and Steve Eulenkamp.

But he knew where his team's problems lay.

'You'll never make jelly in a colander,' he said.

'We didn't take our chances. It was day of missed opportunities but the important thing is we're back enjoying our hockey.

'I'm very pleased with the students and hopefully that will benefit island hockey when it comes to playing Jersey.'

Unwantables, who were without their main players, Kevin Smith and Andy Alford, could count themselves unlucky to come away with no points.

'I think we were unlucky in every game,' said manager Eian Smith.

'There was a one-goal difference in every one.'