Vintage Battle Well Against Eastcote
By Paddy Tripp
Vintage 3 – 4 Eastcote Past Masters
Team (all Vintage unless detailed): Haycroft (6s), Mitchell P (OC’s), Dunn, Bishop (OC’s), Desai, Sanders (Nomad), Harding, Gosbert (Nomad), Tullo (Richmond), Wright D (OC’s), Paterson, Tripp, Hitch
Umpires: Adam & Ray
Scorers: Paterson 2, Wright D
2022 Vintage debuts for Haycroft, Mitchell, Tullo and a second game for Wright. It’s called teambuilding!
The weather when I started out from home was pleasant but by the time I got to SHC, it was wet and windy. And the dugouts face the wind!
First view of Eastcote showed they had a good side and the comment I heard was, “We will do well to get away with 0-7”. And that is how it started – three minutes and 0-1. But we played well and raided their circle more than they did ours and we scored three goals pre half time via Rowley P (2) and Derek W.
The second half was similar except that the goal taking role was reversed unfortunately, even though we created many chances. Everyone on the pitch had a good game and we did not deserve to lose but that’s life.
The overall attitude on the pitch was sporting and the hockey was good to watch. Eastcote were pretty social in the bar afterwards but again, it did show the difference on and off the pitch of having a group of men who had known each other for considerable time. But they gain from being “provincial”!