Cobras-2 match 10 of 12   –   15/3/09

Warwickshire Bears-3 - 28 v Leicester Cobras-2 - 26*

Report & photos Ian Trott.

Cobras-2 travelled to Coventry to take on the Warwickshire Bears-3 (a combination of the Stratford Players and the Coventry Crusaders). The last time the teams met in January, the Cobras-2 squad suffered a heavy 38 v 17 defeat and being a bit down on players we were expecting more of the same.

The match turned out to be a real nail biter! With each team scoring in turn there some very hard fought baskets, the scores climbed steadily 2 points at a time. Moh leading the attack for the Cobras, scoring baskets at a consistent pace.

With the Cobras making regular substitution with their higher point players to give as much match time to the whole team the scoring remained quite steady. The low point players, Grahame and Sean had to stay on for the whole match, as there wasn’t enough cover for them.

In the 3rd quarter the Cobras just pulled out a 2-point advantage as the battle really hotted up. Both teams were working just as hard in defence as they were in offence. It was turning into a real test of nerves.

Going into the final quarter Sean from the Cobras took a heavy sideways hit, this left him really struggling for breath. No sooner had he caught his breath and he was hit again. With just three minutes to go of the last quarter it was looking like the Cobras were going to have to finish the match with four players as there was no sub for Sean due to a lack of low point players. In true fighting spirit Sean pressed on hard to the end.

The Cobras just missed out on a couple of late chances that would have won them the match. Ironically none of the Cobras realised that there had been an error made on the score sheet in the 2nd quarter. A rare basket from Ian was not counted. This would have meant that the Cobras would have had a 4 point lead going into the last quarter. As it was the last quarter was a disaster for the Cobras with them failing to score a single point. Cobras did manage to limit the Bears score to just 4-points; but it was not enough.

Moh and Andy put in excellent scoring performances for the Cobras and Sean kept playing hard through the pain. It was a great team effort.

The next Cobras-2 match is at home to the Mansfield Maulers on Sunday 5/4/09 at Leicester Leys Leisure Centre (tip-off at 1.30 pm).

Quarter Scores          Bears-3       Cobras-2

1                                      10                     10

2                                        8                       8*

3                                        6                       8

4                                        4                       0

Totals                              28                    26*

* A mistake in the score sheet. Cobras-2 scored 10-points in the second quarter not 8-points as recorded. The basket by Ian Trott (no. 31) was not recorded on the score sheet. This means that Cobras-2 would have drawn the match at 28 points each. The match would have then gone into over-time, which would have been very tough for Sean with his injured ribs.

Cobras-2 scorers were:

Moh Abdullahi                  14

Andy Corney                      6

Bryan Clarke                      2

Sean Bramley                    2

Ian Trott                             2

Grahame Forryan              2

Total                                28

Cobras-2 team were:

Bryan Clarke, Sean Bramley, Grahame Forryan (Captain), Helen Tolley, Andy Corney, Moh Abdullahi, George Bates and Ian Trott.

Return to: Match Reports 2008/09