The mark of a championship-winning team is the ability to come away with a point, even when the Hockey Gods are against you. The Tornados Ladies demonstrated these credentials admirably last night against an aggressive NYP, who were bouyed by inconsistent umpiring that favoured the less skillful team.
THC were sluggish at the start, with some perhaps still suffering from the previous night's excesses of Lou's leaving party. However, attempts to switch up a gear were thwarted by the umpires, whose decisions bemused and frustrated even the normally most placid of THC's players.
The first half ended goalless, despite some great play by the front line to put NYP under pressure. NYP then managed to go a goal up in the second half, following a rash of free hits against THC for tackles that seemed perfectly legal to everyone but the umpire.
As the rain came down, Tornados, captained by Lou in her last game for the club, dug in and camped inside the NYP 25-yard line. Their determination and spirit was eventually rewarded when Chris received a short corner, switched to Rosie who neatly flicked the ball into the top left.
An embarrassing spectacle then ensued. NYP complained about the goal and surrounded the umpire. This went on for a full 5 minutes, as NYP continued to harangue the umpire who allowed to situation to degenerate and failed to reprimand even a single player.
Once the game finally restarted, Tornados dominated throughout, with Farah leading the front line with an exemplary performance as centre forward, linking seemlessly with Kok, Rosie and Chris in attack. However, despite their best efforts, the game finished up 1-1 and THC can be glad of salvaging a point under very trying circumstances.
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