Leeds Carnegie vs Newcastle (Staffs)
National Cup round 3
26/11/11
Becketts Park

3-0
26-24 25-13 25-19

For the second successive season 'Castle were drawn away against leading Super8s side Leeds Carnegie in the third round of the National Cup. Whereas last season the fixture had been seen as a crucial opportunity to test the side against top flight opponents, this time around the squad were really clear - the priority is the league. For the casual or neutral observer looking at that statement in light of the 3-0 scoreline, there is plenty of opportunity to be cynical, but with none of Lovell, Bradbury and Yates even making the journey, and Ross in attendance but playing only two points to minimise inuury risk this cannot be questioned.

Despite the focus on the league, there was no doubting the appetite of the players to go for the win and through their two-setter system 'Castle seemed to unsettle their giants opponents. Early on both Allen and Jenkins both provided opportunities for teammates and put the ball away themselves, whilst Roberts, at 5 foot 11 a small middle blocker was able to get good block touches on 6 foot 11 inch tall opposite number Gregory. 'Castle were thriving under the microscope of a higher tempo game and the players were visibly enjoying the challenge. Shenton scored well, with 5 kills from his 10 balls in the first set and he passed well too, undermining the obvious tactic of most opponents this season to serve on the tall receiver. Trailing just 8-7 at the first technical timeout that lead had grown to 16-12 by the second as the team momentarily lost focus, but they fought back well claiming big blocks on Carnegie's star man, the American Nally, and 'Castle had got it back to just 21-19 down. With Saward at the service line 'Castle picked on Miedzibrodzki and the tactic paid off, as the visitors found themselves set point up at 24-23. Carnegie sided out and then took the set with great relief, 'Castle had certainly given them a surprise.

For the second set Carnegie replaced Gregory with England international Clayden, and withdrew the two Scotsmen Miedzibrodzki and the setter Brown for Herzceg and Toth. This was clearly a home team that had been told to step up its game and they did so particularly from the service line, firing jump serve bombs down at 'Castle. Roberts reminded his team to see the match as a series of individual battles and 'Castle diligently broke the set up into segments in an attempt to structure their performance. Despite Leeds' dominance in this set 'Castle could remain positive about a consistent performance, they did not rollover at any time trailing 8-5 and 16-9 prior to the overall 25-13 scoreline.

Carnegie coach Loftus made a slight changes in the third set by reintroducing Miedzibrodzki for Nally. 'Castle started poorly, perhaps feeling battered after putting in arguably their best performance of the season, particualrly when lacking any subs and two players who have picked up more than one MVP this season (Bradbury and Yates). At 8-3 and then 16-7 down Roberts tried to rally the team, and they stabilised the performance to 21-11. Loftus re-introduced Nally, in the opposite slot and brought on Brown for fellow Scotsman Green in a power-play double substitution, but it worked against Carnegie as their distribution dropped in quality and 'Castle fought hard to go out of the cup with a bang, clawing points back to lose 25-19.

It was a fair result and well fought match played in a good atmoshpere, but it has to be noted as a footnote that both the first and second referee were both registered players with Leeds Carnegie, who did not see fit to raise this with 'Castle before or after the match which doesn't seem to really be in the spirit of the game.

With Bradbury and Yates set to return, 'Castle look forward to their match next weekend against fello0w promotion chasers Solent in Southampton.

Squad:
Allen, Heath, Jenkins, McKellar, Roberts, Ross, Saward, Shenton