All Photos Copyright 2003 Peter Horrell

Erkenwald started their 2003/4 Founders Cup campaign with a comfortable win over Nene Valley Venom, a young Peterborough based team. With the Erks having lost 6'9 centre Dave Churches, now playing for Sutton in Division 1 of the National League and 6'6 forward Ed Bailey to Division 2 side Colchester, they could ill afford to also be missing 6'6 forward Paul Hayden and 6'4 Steve Herd, both on holiday, leaving forward Richard Williams as the only available player over 6'4.

Fortunately, Nene Valley weren't the biggest of teams and the Erks athleticism more than compensated for their lack of size. Martin Overare pulled down a number of rebounds at both ends and new signing ex-London University guard John Amoasi, who had to play out of position at forward, was also a force on the boards.

From the outset, the Erks dictated the pace of the game, with their guards pressurising the Nene Valley ball-carriers into a number of turnovers, which the Erks coverted into fast-break baskets. Another new signing, guard Julian Morvan who is now running one of Erkenwald's two Essex Met league teams, was the chief perpetrator. His aggressive defence and outside shooting , combined with some strong drives to the basket from Italian guard David Passacantilli gave the Erks an early double digit lead.

In the second quarter as Erks coach Declan McCusker introduced players off the bench , Nene Valley briefly threatened a come-back, as they capitalised on some sloppy passing to score some fast-break points of their own. However as the lead dwindled to single figures, Williams outwitted his marker to tip in a missed free-throw and 16 year old John Boateng hit a big 3 pointer to give the Erks a 41-27 half-time lead.

The third quarter saw the Erks make a decisive move, holding Nene Valley scoreless at the start of the quarter as a 20 point margin opened up. Martin Overare scoring well around the basket and Morvan continuing to connect with outside shots on his way to a game high 22 points. The remainder of the game saw both sides rotate their bench as the Erks never looked in danger of surrendering their lead, a couple of late 3 pointers from John Kimani and Amoasi padding out the final winning margin to 27.

With so many new players on show, Erks coach McCusker was encouraged with his side's performance, however he struck a cautionary note saying "Although we used our speed and athleticism to our advantage today, against the more experienced teams in our pool we'll need to be much more disciplined if we're to qualify for the knock-out stages."

Erks second pool game is away to Huntingdon in mid-November. The other teams in a tough group are two of last season's semi-finalists, Columbans from St Albans and Cambridge Cougars, the final team being Buckinghamshire based Brunel.

Erks Scorers:
Julian Morvan 22, John Amoasi 14, John Kimani 10, Dave Passacantilli 9, John Boateng 9, Martin Overare 8, Richard Williams 4, Yinka Aramide 2

Report posted: 27/10/03