Lindum Hockey cruise to a 9-0 opening day win against Belper as Matt Parker stars with four goals in their first game in the new league.
It was a dominant Lindum display from start to finish as Parker completed a first-half hat-trick before Sam Dixon, Matt Bell, Harry Antill, Rob Johnstone and Ben Read added the rest.
It was Lindum’s first game in the England Hockey Conference North, a division higher than they or any Lincolnshire team have ever reached before.
Lindum were promoted as league winners last season while Belper were relegated in a stark contrast. The visitors finished second bottom in the England Division One North last campaign and as a result start their new season in the division below, with a depleted squad.
In the afternoon sun, Lindum’s ‘Yellow Submarine’ dominated throughout the whole 60 minutes, preventing Belper from producing a single shot for the entirety.
The home side were clinical with their penalty corners (PCs), scoring all four of their first-half goals and through them. The first came after just 11 minutes as Matt Parker fired home a PC from captain Rob Johnstone.
Ben Read almost doubled Lindum’s lead after some good work from James Niven to carry the ball down the left-side. Then came the second as Parker again converted a PC before the end of the first quarter.
The second quarter carried on in much the same fashion as Johnstone hit the post, Matt Bell hit a shot wide and the Belper goalkeeper, Tom Bendy, was forced to work hard to keep the deficit at two.
His resilience didn’t last as Parker completed a first-half hat-trick after 20 minutes. The fourth came before half-time as Sam Dixon sweeped the ball home against his former team from yet another penalty corner.
Lindum’s ‘Yellow Submarine’ off to the dream start
The second-half brought a slower pace as Lindum cruised to victory over a lacklustre Belper. Read and Bell almost scored goals of their own as the domination continued into the second-half.
The fifth came from another penalty corner as the ball was worked to player-coach Matt Bell, who’s shot was deflected in. The referees came together and after a short discussion decided to give the goal.
As the third quarter came to a close, Harry Antill added his name to the scoresheet. He tipped the ball in at the back post to give Lindum a 6-0 lead heading into the final 15 minutes.
The last quarter went as you would expect, a controlling Lindum picking apart a tired and demoralised Belper team.
Captain Rob Johnstone passed the ball across the face of goal, allowing Read to place the ball into the back of Bendy’s net.
Dixon almost had his second as he rushed through on goal on a break-away. However, his shot was just wide and the score remained 7-0.
A loud Lindum crowd didn’t have to wait long for the eighth, as Johnstone’s snapshot from the edge of the shooting circle found the bottom corner.
Bendy’s busy afternoon in goal didn’t show any signs of slowing as Read rounded him and then somehow missed a gaping goal. The goalkeeper denied Read just a minute later as he fired a shot on target.
Bell almost had a goal of his own before Lindum added the cherry on top of the cake. Matt Parker scored his fourth, firing home the ball from a final penalty corner.
The result and performance were the perfect start to the league for the ‘Yellow Submarine’, breezing past a side who sat two divisions above them just last season.
Next weekend, Lindum travel to Sheffield before rivals Doncaster come to Lincoln in October.