Hampstead away, Prem - 5 Nov 2005

With bright new kit for the Centenary year, it was Purley's first game on Hampstead's swanky artificial pitch - it has "playing characteristics almost identical to grass" apparently, and is a fine surface to play lacrosse on.

Lack of discipline cost Purley in the first quarter with Hamsptead scoring 3 goals on man-up plays, but more worrying was the silly mistakes which cost Purley much of their possession. It was 1-4 at quarter time, and if Purley could cut out the mistakes there was still plenty of time to come back, but that wasn't what happened. Lack of movement off the ball, bad decisions when on the ball, and lack of communication in defence meant Hampstead completely dominated possession in the 2nd quarter, and put the game out of reach by half time with a 9-2 lead.

With the Hampstead face-off working to perfection, they continued to control the ball in the second half, and it wasn't until the final quarter that Purley started to compete. The attack was more incissive, noteably Jesse O'Hanley who notched up 2 goals in the quarter, but even so Hampstead were better, winning the quarter 4-3, and giving them a comfortable 16-6 victory.

So it's official - 3 losses in a row make it a losing streak, the first one for Purley in what must be 10 years, and one that probably ended their chances of league success this season. Purley will have to improve if they don't want to end up in mid table this season.

Goals: Jesse O'Hanley 2, Nigel Tasko 2, Mike Barrett 1, Dan Heighway 1

Photos by Steve Cluney.