Sparticans Say Farewell to Warlingham with a Win
By Simon Fitch
SHC Sparticans 1 – 0 Kenley
Scorer: S Fitch
And so, after years of wet, windy and freezing visits to Warlingham School, the Sparticans made their swansong at said venue baked in sunshine. With the upcoming league reorganisation, it’s unlikely we’ll come back to the area, and we wish those continuing to do so well.
The team warm ups were telling; ours featured last minute driving debacles and around five minutes prep, theirs saw them running around the spacious school fields and a good deal of stretching.
Once we started, the team began brightly and could have scored as early as the first minute. Sadly our captain Steve’s afternoon lasted about as long as the killer calf flared up again. Still, without now needing to worry about Fitchy’s complicated substitution matrix, we took the game to them and had a number of chances, which we found ways to miss.
We eventually scored thanks to a good move being finished adroitly by Fitchy, himself unencumbered by any namesakes on the pitch this week. From then on, the game became an open demonstration of lower league – even if it wasn’t league – hockey with shots aplenty at both ends. Both keepers played well, and in an eventual Spartican of The Day winning performance Jimmer saved us on a number of occasions including a heroic goal line clearance, or two…
We were better in the second half with today’s Youth of Today representatives Ciaran and Will playing very well. We trundled onto a victory and should have had more goals, not least when Ciaran hit the post and Matt ‘call me Sutton’ hit the keeper from a yard. For his efforts, Matt was eventually awarded Moment of The Match, supported as always by Lnyx Africa. Matt Anderson also received a number of votes for his ongoing services to international diplomacy, which we always enjoy.
With no teas or beers on offer, we decamped to Fitchy’s latest Open Space Find to finish off Steve’s San Miguel and Guest Beer filled esky. With the Croydon vista for accompaniment, there was much to discuss from the game, and also from many team members’ visits to the vaccination centres – oh how we fill our weeks. Finally, we thanked Gary for spending his time umpiring us very well, and keeping a lid on things nicely.
Next week, a return game versus OCs to look forward to at home – our final three non-league league games have seen maximum non-points, and hopefully our performances will improve in our next set of three so we can finish on a high in May.