OAMPS Blades hold on against Lakers

Troy Elder’s class and maturity has kept the OAMPS Queensland Blades undefeated at the men’s AHL tournament after a thrilling match against the Canberra Labor Club Lakers.

His two goals came off perfectly executed dragflicks to the stick side of Lakers goalkeeper Andrew Charter can hold his head high after several brilliant saves throughout the match.

The Lakers side, who have been inconsistent during the early stages of their tournament campaign, produced one of their finest performances to date, but it wasn’t enough to overcome the defending champions.

The Lakers created many scoring opportunities through their excellent passing and field play as they levelled the score twice in the second half and always appeared to be well in the contest.

As the game was played at a frantic pace, frustrations form both sides began to show late in the second half as two green cards were awarded, one to each team, for aggressive behaviour.

As the excitement continued late into the game both teams mounted last ditch attacks with the Lakers controlling most of the ball in the final minutes to tie down the Blades and create opportunities. But the experience of the Blades back half lead by Mark Knowles repelled the ACT attacks and kept the scores locked at 3-2.

Goalkeeping on both sides of the field was excellent as both were able to ward off the vast majority of attacks thrown their way.

The Blades, who are undefeated in the tournament to date but appear yet to reach their full potential, will need to be in their best form when they play ladder leaders the Victorian Vikings in the next round of AHL action.

For all match results and points tables from the AHL visit www.hockey.org.au