Cardiff Harlequins 17- 1 Southampton University
Zenith West Division 1
7th February 2008
As much of England and South Wales sat under several inches of snow, there was little reticence for Quins as they travelled to the south coast to play what should have been a home league tie on Southampton’s state-of-the-art all-weather pitch. The weather also put paid to Harlequins A match against local rivals UWIC, allowing skipper Andy Morgan to give a first team debut to defender Dave Austin who gave a fine account of himself and presented yet another selection headache for Morgan. Quins were close to full-strength and understandably confident against a side against whom they had recorded a club record win of 29-1 earlier in the season. There was to be no repeat of those goalscoring feats this time around, as a hugely-improved Uni outfit proved dogged opposition to keep the Flags Holders to 17-1.
The early stages were dominated by Quins as they raced out of the blocks, quickly settling into their shape and throwing the ball around at pace. Cardiff have been working on a new focus to their attack in recent weeks, looking to create more assisted goals rather than rely on isolation plays. Morgan, Mike Peters and then Alan Croft all capitalised on the creativity of others and by the end of the first period, the scoreline had reached 6-0, only one of which had come unassisted. After recovering from the initial tumult, Southampton hit back in the second. An improvement in the University’s defensive communication meant space in front of goal was much more restricted for the Cardiff attack. Quins’ offense was also culpable of a lack of thought and intelligence in their off-ball play, often cutting at the wrong time or into the wrong area of the field. As a consequence, Cardiff struggled to create many clear-cut chances although they added 3 more goals before halftime. At the back, the defensive trio of Austin, Nick Panayidis and Phill Pexton provided ample protection for keeper Matt Grindle as Southampton made few inroads until a communication breakdown allowed the Uni attack in and they duly registered their interest on the scoresheet to take the score to 9-1 at halftime.
The third period was an object lesson in sticking to a game plan, and trusting that the tactics are right. The raw numbers are perhaps surprising – Cardiff scored just twice in the twenty minute quarter - but behind the figures lies half a dozen excellent saves from the Southampton keeper and 3 shots that came back off the iron of the crossbar or post. Whether Quins are as disciplined in a closer fought match against better opposition remains to be seen, but they will draw strength from matches like this. Perhaps understandably, the Quins offense began to get a little frustrated at their failure to find the net, but there has been a shift in attitude as well as focus lately and rather than the usual griping there was praise and encouragement between teammates. That continued into the fourth quarter, when Cardiff found a second wind and lifted the performance back to first quarter levels. Will Barrett got them on their way and soon the scoreline was ticking over a quite a rate, the highlight being a superbly executed man-up play which drew praise even from the Uni defence. Southampton had a few moments of pressure but found there was no lack of concentration in the the Quins defence and Grindle easily mopped up what shots there were.
It would be wrong to say Cardiff were at or near their fluid best, but there is a certain amount of pride to be taken from the discipline and attitude with which they raised the intensity in the last period. However, they will need 80 minutes of that intensity if they are to overcome East league leaders Croydon in the Flags semi-final in a fortnight’s time.
