This was always going to be a tough fixture and in short Wilmslow came out the wrong side of the result.
The first quarter saw WIlmslow struggle with the tempo a little and perhaps didn't look as cohesive defensively as normal. The visitors opened the scoring through Andrew "Rasta" Brickell with a right handed shot from a tight angle that beat the Wilmslow goalie Matt Croney. Although the first quarter would end 1-2 in favour of Poynton, the home team looked somewhat off the pace of the game and Poynton had dominated faceoffs, groundballs and therefor possession of the game.
Possession continued to be a problem for Wilmslow whose shot selection was well off the mark with too many opportunities being put straight into the Poynton goalies pocket. The men in orange extended their lead 1-5 before Ollie Thomasson would pull one back which was shortly followed by an own goal that defected in to the Poynton goal from a feed. Although Adam Footitt seemed to win a few more faceoffs during the quarter, the groundballs were often gobbled up by the LSM for Poynton who was outstanding throughout the game.
During the entire first half Wilmslow struggled to clear the ball effectively which felt they were stuck in their own defensive half for longer then they should be. The Wilmslow midfield seemed to be subbing all at once and before they had cleared the ball over the half way line putting added pressure on defensively.
The third quarter was tied 1-1 as the Wilmslow defense got tighter as a unit and did a better job on their one on one match ups. Frustratingly the Wilmslow attack just never gelled in the third. Unfortunately poor shot selection on the rare chances Wilmslow had during the period meant that despite an improved defensive performance, including a couple of great on on one saves from Captain Croney in goal, Wilmslow could not close the gap.
The final period saw Poynton extended their lead 4-10 before the home team switched on up with a 3 goal run in 9 minutes to close it to 7-10. Asking the defensive to pressure the ball in the dying minutes of the game was asking a lot from a team pinned in their own half most of the afternoon. The game would end 8-11 to Poynton, a score line that in fact flattered the home side. Although the loss and performance fit be disappointing, lessons will be learnt for the defeat and Wilmslow know that Poynton are one of the top 3 teams in that division and that we will perform differently the next time we met them.
