Pelicans beaten in nine-goal thriller

Pelicans came out on the wrong end of a nine-goal thriller last Saturday.The visitors didn’t exactly come flying out of the traps and found themselves 3-0 down quite early on.A penalty stroke, a goal from open play and then a controversial third on the counterattack from a Pelicans short corner gave the home side the perfect start and left the visitors shellshocked.However, this Pelicans team is made of strong stuff nowadays and never seem to know when they’re beaten and they bounced back emphatically.Firstly, captain Sam Phillips pulled one back with a trademark short corner finish before Ian Simons carried on his fine reputation as a “goalscoring left back” by being in the right place at the right time to score at the back post following an excellent run by George Van Aalst.The rest of the half was full of end-to-end hockey.The home side looked dangerous at times and kept Simons and his fellow defenders of Jason Esser, Iain Page and Sam Major pretty busy but they remained firm, along with goalkeeper Dan Upton behind them. The start of the second half was always going to be crucial, Pelicans had the momentum after a strong end to the half but Stortford knew they were capable of starting quickly. Unfortunately for the visitors that’s exactly what happened as very quickly the scoreline went from 3-2 to 5-2.Firstly a magnificent short corner flew into the top corner and then an unfortunate scrappy goal finally off Esser’s stick saw the home side take the game by the scruff of the neck.Yet again though Pelicans rallied in the pouring rain and the howling wind and you felt if they got one back the game would be back on and Bishop Stortford would become vulnerable and that’s exactly what happened. Van Aalst pulled one back after good work from midfielders Ollie Booth, Sam Landles and Jack Major.Captain Phillips was then involved again as his assist with beautifully deflected in by Miles Doncaster for his first goal for the team. Pelicans continued to push, looking for a late equaliser and what would have been a second 5-5 draw this season and despite half chances falling to Jacob Craig Craig, Toby Phillips and debutant Dan Rix, they just couldn’t quite find the net one final time.On Saturday, Pelicans face the toughest assignment of their Premier Division campaign so far as they host league leaders Peterborough at Alive Lynnsport, starting at 3pm. The game is expected to be a fantastic spectacle.Pelicans MoM, sponsored by 4Way: Miles Doncaster.With both the ladies’ and men’s first teams playing at home on Saturday, the club are inviting all former players to come along and watch both games and enjoy a beverage or two in the clubhouse between and after both games.Please feel free to come along and support both teams as well as catching up and reminiscing with some old faces.