Cardiff Harlequins 9 - 4 Brighton Panthers
SEMLA Premiership Playoff, West Div 1 Champions v East Div 1 Champions
10th April 2010
For those intimately involved in the running of the club it probably seems a lot longer, but three years ago this week, after months of hard work and perseverance, Cardiff Harlequins Lacrosse Club came into existence. Its ambition from the outset was no secret - to reach the pinnacle of south lacrosse and gain promotion to the SEMLA Premiership. 36 months on, with no less hard work and perseverance, a playoff against the East Division 1 champions represented the final obstacle to Harlequins achieving that aim and booking a place in the top flight of southern lacrosse. In dazzling spring sunshine, this was a grey and uninspiring Quins performance, lacking the fluency which has been such a hallmark of this year's displays, but on this of all occasions, the only statistic that mattered was the scoreline, and Cardiff did more than enough to ensure they were on the right side of it.
Harlequins' preparations and warm-up showed little signs of the tension which would plague their performance, and indeed the opening few minutes suggested the crowd could be treated to a repeat of the earlier clash between these sides, which Cardiff dominated 20-2. After James Tiley won the opening face, Cardiff settled into their offensive shape and soon found a way through the Brighton backline as Will Barrett picked out Rory Peters who finished from 8 yards. Minutes later Barrett doubled Cardiff's lead, outwitting his defender with a quick change of direction from X before attacking the left pipe and scoring comfortably. Brighton bit back however, and stemmed the flow of goals with a couple of offensive possessions of their own despite struggling to create anything to test Casey Hughes in the Cardiff net. For the first time, a few nerves began to show amongst the Quins offense as passes were forced to the crease and frustrations bubbled. The rest of the quarter fizzed by without further goals or incident, with Cardiff struggling to find their rhythm but looking untroubled at the back, and both teams were grateful for the break and an opportunity to iron out some problems. Despite instructions from skipper Adam Grey to relax and focus on fundamentals, Cardiff continued to stutter their way through the second quarter, whilst Brighton opened their account to half the deficit. Midfielder Tiley responded with a fine effort to restore Quins’ two goal cushion, before both sides traded further goals before the break to give a 4-2 halftime score.
Cardiff have had no less than 6 matches conceded to them by opposition teams this season, including their last two league fixtures, and the lack of recent match practise was evident throughout. Too often, teammates appeared to be on different wavelengths and simple moves broke down through a lack of communication. But, as they demonstrated against Southampton City, Harlequins are nothing if not gritty and the West Champions kept up a degree of pressure on the Brighton cage and ensured the scoreboard kept ticking over, if a little slower than they would have liked. Thanks to excellent work at face off by Tiley and Chris Lee, Cardiff edged ahead in the possession stakes once more. This allowed Grey to grab his second of the day with a blistering finish from an impossibly tight angle, and Rhodri Stanford capitalised on a breakdown in communication amongst the Panthers defence to stretch the lead once again. Brighton hit back with a controversial goal, scored when the Cardiff defence had stopped expecting a whistle to be blown for an earlier foul. Once again though it was Quins’ captain who lead by example with a crafty finish to make it 7-3, and indeed Grey could have completed a third quarter hat-trick when Stanford put him in for a simple one-on-one finish, but the groans from the crowd revealed the ball had popped out of his stick whilst attempting to fake the stranded keeper.
Cardiff Harlequins squad for SEMLA Premiership Playoff 2009/10 |
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BACK ROW (l-r): Casey Hughes, Andy Morgan, Alan Croft, Rory Dewhurst, Adam Grey (c), James Tiley, Chris Lee
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With control of the scoreboard and control of the game, Cardiff noticeably relaxed in the final period, and produced their best lacrosse since the opening minutes. The defence of Wil Evans, Nathan Harding, Rory Dewhurst and Andy Ford continued to stifle much of what Brighton could offer in offense, and Hughes was rarely troubled between the sticks. This served to further relieve the tension, and a few smiles appeared on the faces of Cardiff’s midfield and attack as Grey grabbed his fourth and Andy Morgan added another, cutting incisively onto an slick Alan Croft feed to make it 9 for Harlequins. Brighton were rewarded for their tenacity and vigour with a fourth to give a final score of 9-4.
The East Champions move onto a play-off against East Grinstead for the final Premiership spot, and certainly played their part throughout this match, but in truth they never threatened to deny Harlequins their ambition. And whilst this was far from the performance many had expected, Quins will hardly care. It was 3 years, almost to the day, that the club arrived in the lacrosse world and Cardiff had secured their place amongst southern lacrosse’s elite. For the current group of players, it is that achievement which will be recorded and retold back at the Diamond Ground for many years, and it is that achievement which will taste better than almost anything achieved since the clubs inception.
