04/05 Season
Milton Keynes vs Compass Leicester
Date: 23-Oct-04
Score: 3-2 (25-20 23-25 25-17 18-25 15-11)

Milton Keynes take top spot…

Leicester came to Milton Keynes well organised, fired up and seeking a victory. The two teams met in a pre-season friendly earlier in the year, where Leicester were by far the stronger due to their pre-season preparations. However, Milton Keynes were at full strength this time, and had 3 victories under their belts, so it was going to be a different story!

Milton Keynes came out with all guns blazing and took charge of the first set with some strong serving and powerful hitting. It seemed like Leicester were taken by surprise, especially with the power of Ant Moffatt's middle attack. The first battle was a Milton Keynes win with a 25-20 set victory, but this was not going to be an easy ride.

Leicester were obviously a little annoyed by this turn of events, and they came out firing in the second set. It became clear that this was going to be an up and down game, with each team taking turns at being on top. The intensity of the match was incredible, mainly due to the eagerness of the referee to blow his whistle for the serve. The set was tightly fought, but Leicester came out 23-25 winners to balance the score 1-1.

The next two sets went the same way, with Milton Keynes winning the 3rd set with some ease 25-17. However, despite a decent lead in the fourth set, Leicester recovered very well to win the set 18-25, to set up an exciting fifth set finale.

Both teams were fired up - the players that wanted this most were going to be the victors, as tiredness began to set in. It was a closely fought final set, with Milton Keynes having a slight lead at the change of ends. Leicester began to get riled, as Milton Keynes edged ahead, something that Leicester obviously did not expect. The crucial moment was at 13-11, with Milton Keynes serving - if Leicester win the point, they are back in the game, if Milton Keynes win the point, then they will only be one point away from a great victory. Up stepped Matt Almond, who had already had a terrific game…the set went up to Leicester's main and tallest hitter, who thwacked the ball…Matt was on his own in the block, but leaped like a salmon to stuff the Leicester attack. The ball landed before the players did, and the Milton Keynes team knew they had it. The lads won the next rally and celebrated in fantastic style.

This has been a bitter pill to swallow for Leicester, even to the extent of cross words when shaking hands, which resulted in the first referee telling the Milton Keynes players not to say "well played" when shaking hands! Which seems a little pathetic to me…

Well played lads, this puts Milton Keynes at the top of the division, after City of Bristol lost their first game of the season to Thames Valley.

Next match: Saturday 30th October @ 18:00 vs Loughborough Students (New Sports Hall, Loughborough)

Team: Matt Almond, Simon Barton, Colin Brown, Tim Daun, Dave Goddard, Jan Hruska, Ant Moffat, Scott Robson, Kevin Smith, Andreas Whitley

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