 It felt like the start of winter as the Shadows faced Royal Holloway under the lights at Broadwater. Stand-in skipper Tom Lyne urged his troops to start well and the Shadows did just that by dominating possession...
Having played some free flowing hockey and created a number of chances early on, the Shadows lack of ruthlessness in front of goal was all that stood between them and taking the lead.
Shortly before half time the deadlock was broken when Simon Higgins, on his second Shadows appearance, stooped in to deflect the ball in at the far post. The goal saw Simon become the first Higgins to score for the Shadows with his centre back brother James failing to notch a goal in his 87 appearances to date.
After a half time team talk about keeping our composure in front of goal, the Shadows started nervously and Royal Holloway grew into the game. With the game becoming increasingly end to end the Shadows frontline of Yusuf, Tom Lyne and Tim Wright created a number of further chances without converting.
Royal Holloway earned their first short corner with ten minutes to go and the Shadows had Dave Gunner to thank for clearing the ball off the line to preserve the lead. Sadly the pressure told minutes later with Royal Holloway tapping in a deflected cross to equalise. The Shadows pushed hard in the closing minutes but a combination of good goal keeping and missed opportunities saw the match end in a 1-1 draw.
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