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Watching the Hurricanes lately is a bit like watching Arsenal over the last year. Positive, attacking football, lots of possession, lots of chances ... but not enough goals. The pattern continued on Saturday in one of the best games of the season so far against the Tigers. The Hurricanes dominated for long stretches of the game but missed a host of chances and were punished for some rare defensive lapses.
The first half was fast-paced and entertaining. Both teams were very positive and attacking and some of the passing and movement between Joel, Kane, William and Sam was a delight to watch. Time and again, the Hurricanes sliced through the Tigers midfield – Sam came closest to scoring with a stinging shot that drew a great save from the Tigers keeper. But it was the Tigers that led at the break after a long-range shot just beat Ryan’s dive and sneaked into the net.
The first ten minutes of the second half was spent almost exclusively in the Tigers penalty area as the Hurricanes laid siege to their goal. At one point, Hitchin forced six corners in succession in their search for an equaliser. The Tigers remained dangerous on the break and would have doubled their lead but for the heroics of Sam Hen, who made a quite amazing double save, palming a point-blank shot onto the crossbar and then diving to smother the rebound. Unfortunately, the Tigers made it two soon after as Hitchin failed to deal with a corner and it was three soon after that as the ball sneaked in direct from a corner.
Totally against the run of play, the Hurricanes found themselves 3-0 down but rallied well and scored a consolation when Joel ran through and slipped the ball under the keeper to make the score line a little more realistic.
Team: Ryan, Kane, Somerset, Sam Hart, William, Joel, Vinnay
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