November 16 saw the fifth Big Match take place; on the waterbase, the Men’s first team took on Nottingham Trent, in the Premier North League. With both teams having a slow start to the season this was a fight to get out of sixth place in the table.
This slow pace was replicated at the start of the match, until a short corner for Trent which was easily cleared by Carl Sitch. A great passage of passing play led to the first goal from Oliver Ward’s reverse stick effort.
Towards the end of the first half Trent had a lot of possession and a string of short corners; finally converting a rebound to take the score to one apiece.
Loughborough were quick to respond with another great open play goal, constructed with quick passing and finished with a reverse stick cross from David Condon to George Torrey to deflect the ball into the back of the net, giving Loughborough a 2-1 lead at half time.
The second half again saw a quiet start, with only one shot in the first 20 minutes.
Nottingham were up against it however, after a string of cards. First, a bad stick tackle lead to a yellow then the Trent goalkeeper was also shown a yellow, luckily for the visitors; they’d brought a reserve keeper.
In the final 10 minutes the Trent Captain was awarded a red card for aggression leaving Loughborough with a three man advantage. The home side, in the form of Chris Griffiths, seized on this advantage to slot a reverse shot and make the final result 3-1 to Loughborough.
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This takes Loughborough to 4th in the table above Birmingham who lost to Durham. Loughborough will hope this result will see the start of a strong run until Christmas. Next week, they face Birmingham away, where they can hopefully jump another place up the table, resurrecting their poor start to the season.
