Hillcroft at home, Prem - 17 Nov 2007

A gloomy day at Addiscombe saw Purley reverting to their purple uniforms to avoid a colour clash with the yellow of Hillcroft. With only 11 players and no ref it looked like Purley would have to stand a man down to referee, but fortunately for them Hillcroft coach Ray Nash agreed to don the stripes. A big thank you to him, especially as at the time Hillcroft only had 10 men, so by refereeing he was giving Purley a distinct advantage (though Hillcroft's 11th man did turn up during the 1st quarter).

Purley started well, controlling the ball from the first whistle, but initially their attack was not firing on all cylinders against Hillcroft's zone defence. They were however backing up the shots, which allowed them to maintain the pressure for most of the quarter, which resulted in a 4-0 lead.

It was the second quarter when Purley really started to pick apart the Hillcroft zone. Playing a 1-4-1 formation, good movement and picking off the ball saw them stretch the defence, and quick ball movement was finding the open man. Seven goals in the quarter to Hillcroft's one brought the half time score to 11-1.

In the second half Hillcroft modified their defensive zone to allow them to pressure the ball, but Purley adjusted to this well by keeping the ball moving, and Purley scored steadily to bring the final score to 20-1. For the second week in a row Dennis McKenna notched up 7 goals, with John Maydick (who makes a welcome return after a brief spell with Purley in 2004-5) close on his heels with 5.

Goals: Dennis McKenna 7, John Maydick 5, Graeme Holland 3, Mike Barrett 3, Matt Payne 2
Ref: Ray Nash

Photos by Steve Cluney.