|
Site hosted by |
|
|
Chelmsford overwhelmed by Wildthings Chelmsford knock out ambitions will now be focussed on the Plate after they went down 3-1 in a spirited display to Brentwood Wildthings the current holders in this first round encounter. With home team Brentwood fielding several national league players and the Cup and League double holders in Essex for the last few years, Chelmsford were always going to find this an uphill battle. Fortunately for them newcomer Laszlo Maklary quickly fitted into the side and won player of the match. Set one saw Chelmsford with John Hill setting with Maklary playing opposite. Brentwood used their settled line up and were quickly onto the scoreboard continuing in this vein by taking the set 25-12. Set two saw Stuart Fairley replace Steve Peacock for Chelmsford and with Widzinski and Gentry playing well at outside attack Chelmsford improved after a poor start going 12-6 down to finish the set 25-18 scoring at the same rate as the home side. Set three saw even more improvement and this time it was Wildthings playing catch up. Maklary was dominant at the net and Chelmsford took the lead from the first rally and despite the home team fighting back held out to take it 25-20. As one of the few sets Wildthings have lost recently this was a fine achievement and the high point of the game from a Chelmsford perspective. However, the Brentwood side are not champions without reason and came back strongly. They reverted to a simple power game and their height and experience of playing at this intensity were enough to see them through 25-14 after the surprise of losing a set. Chelmsford now go through to the semi-finals of the Tachikara Plate competition leaving Brentwood Wildthings to defend their title. |