Kentish Gazette Canterbury & District
Lessons not being learned
Craig Boyne admitted he was the angriest he’s been this season after Canterbury’s 5-1 defeat to Holcombe in the Men’s Hockey League at Polo Farm on Saturday night, writes Mark Stokes.
A promising first half which ended with the score at 1-1, was undone inside the opening moments of the second half as Holcombe regained the lead and never looked back.
Player- coach Boyne said being prepared for restarts is something Canterbury have talked about, so he was disappointed they conceded the second goal in the manner they did. He added: “I was cheesed off after Saturday, to put it mildly. It was disappointing because we have outlined restarts as one of the areas we need to focus on.
“It’s a tough one to turnaround when you go behind so early in the half and at the moment, it seems we’re always trying to dig ourselves out of a hole.
“We were still getting chances and short corners but when you’re chasing a goal, it leaves you open and they have quality players who can punish you.
“I thought the score flattered them but I can say that as much as I like, it’s points that matter and right now we’re not getting enough of them.”
Nicholas Bandurak had Holcombe ahead inside two minutes but Canterbury deservedly drew level just before the half-hour when Michal Nowakowski struck from a penalty corner.
Bandurak it was who exploited Canterbury’s lack of awareness at the start of the second half to grab Holcombe’s second and 11 minutes later, he completed his hat-trick.
Visiting skipper Richard Lane made it 4-1 in the 47th minute before Bandurak claimed his fourth nine minutes from time.
Saturday’s defeat was Canterbury’s sixth in seven matches and they remain bottom with a negative goal difference of 27, significantly worse than any of their rivals.
Boyne admits it’s something they need to address sooner rather than later and Wimbledon on Saturday (5pm) would be a good place to start.
He promised training this week would be ‘punishing’ for the players and added: “I still feel there is a lot of ability in the squad. We just need to execute our plans better.”