Men’s 3As Run Out of Time For Teddington Comeback

Men’s 3As 1 – 2 Teddington 3s

Scorer: Quincey

POM: Lars Hanson

DOD: Quincey

With a full squad of 16, which co-incidentally would be the average age of the squad if Quincey wasn’t playing, we were faced with a physical Teddington side. Early exchanges from both teams resulted in very few high quality chances at either end.

Ten minutes into the game, Teddington secured their first short corner. A well-worked routine saw a straight flick along the floor perfectly dissect the goalie’s legs for 0-1. A few minutes later, Surbiton were on the attack, when an off-the-ball piece of 'gamesmanship’ saw Quincey respond in kind, directly in front of umpire Aldous. An almost apologetic umpire Aldous was left with no other choice than to allow Quincey five minutes on the naughty chair to consider his “misdemeanour”.

Surbiton rallied well and offered Teddington no further sights at goal. Back up to the full compliment and Surbiton continued to cause the opposition issues – probing runs from man-of-the-match Lars, Wilf and others continued to threaten but the final outcome in the D just wasn’t there.  

As half time arrived the game was still very much in the balance. A half time team talk from Wadders saw a reinvigorated 3As up for the fight in the second half. We continued to pass the accurately and at pace and looked more likely to score. Vociferous support from the crowd acted as a 12th person and chants of 'Quincey got carded for less than that’ from the capacity crowd energised the Surbiton players. Then we conceded another penalty corner which saw a pull-out direct to top left of the D which was slapped into the goal through a melee of players. Another frustratingly soft goal.

Despite the setback the young Surbiton side held their nerve and showed a grit not often seen from younger players to force their way back into the game. Great work down the left flank saw a smart 1-2 on the baseline and a penalty corner award to Surbiton. Amid continued support from the Sugden Road faithful and inside information from Wadders about the goalie’s mobility, Quincey slotted in the bottom left corner… 1-2. Despite continued pressure from Surbiton, time was not on our side today and Teddington were the eventual winner.

Thanks to Simon and Andy - as always great umpiring.