Warwick Riga v City of Stoke, Men's National League Division 1, 21st
September 2002
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Riga's opening foray into the new National League Division
One season did not get off to an auspicious start. The writing appeared
on the wall from the pre-match warm up when new signing Ian Carroll
slipped and twisted his ankle - an injury that will keep him on the
sidelines for at least the next three weeks. What followed in the match
proper was at times hardly less excruciating as the team lost three-two to
City of Stoke at the St. Nicholas Park Leisure Centre, Warwick, on
Saturday. True the match ended in controversy but as skipper Tom Young
remarked later, "We paid the price for our lack of pre-season training.
Too many people made too many mistakes and that isn't good enough for a
side with top of the table ambitions like us." |
Phil Wyles
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Riga struggled from the off and found a workman-like Stoke side difficult to
handle. As the visitors progressed into a 13 - 7 lead, Riga mistakes
littered the scorecard. Having all but thrown the first set away at 14 -
22, a home revival led by Phil Wyles and ably assisted by John Gilling, Kees
de Hoogh and Tom Spijkers put Stoke on the rack. The fairytale comeback,
however, was not to be as a relieved Stoke prevailed 25 - 23.
The second set soon had Riga in front and although Stoke never really let
them out of their sights, the gap was sufficient for the home side to level
the match with a 25 - 23 reply.De Hoogh and Spijkers were the main men
for Riga. |
With two close sets already fought, the one-sided third set came as a
surprise to the large crowd. However, the experience was a welcoming one as
Riga crushed their opponents 25 - 11. Points came from around the whole
court, as a flowing home side seemed to recapture their form of the previous
season. As Riga ran riot, Dan Showler and Riga's other new signing, Mike
Fetters, made their appearances, and added their contributions to a fearsome
performance.
The fourth set was a lot closer as neither side could establish a
maintainable lead. As the magical 25-point mark hove into view with both
sides still locked together, it was going to take a dramatic intervention to
avoid the set going into overtime. Stoke's Smith proved to be the man of
the moment and his side stole home 25 - 22. |
The sudden death fifth set again had both teams inseparable at the start.
Then some fine blocking from Stoke had them 9 - 6 ahead, only for pressure
serving by Wyles to extract the errors from the visitors to level the
scores. With the crowd roaring Riga on, they saved match point, only to be
denied themselves moments later. However, Stoke again edged ahead and Riga
had more match points to retrieve. The end came in controversy as a
Spijkers attack appeared to take a deflection off a Stoke defender on its
way out of court. Unseen by both officials the point was awarded to Stoke
to give them victory 22 - 20.
"I pointed out to the referee that the linesperson had signalled a touch,"
said an irate Young afterwards, "but he claimed the signal was too late. We
feel cheated big time." |
Tom Young
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Riga must now pick themselves up for their trip to London Docklands next
Saturday in another early season crunch match. Docklands snatched second
place from Riga last term and inflicted a bitter tasting defeat on them
immediately following their Cup semi-final exit at the hands of Stoke.
"We owe them one" confirms Young but with pre-season preparation wanting,
will Docklands have too much in their locker for under-performing Riga? |
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John Boughton |