Men’s 2s 4 - 3 Indian Gymkhana 1s (H)

HT 1-1

FT 4-3

Goalscorer: Doidge x 4 (all PCs)

As the Surbiton side headed into the changing room pre-match, Goughy was once again fined for wearing the wrong shorts and talk of a £60 ticket for the ‘End of Season’ party left a bad taste in a few people’s mouths. Deaks began with a few philosophical questions to get us thinking ahead of the game and Ore pretended he preferred football without fans because he loved hearing the communication between the players. Jamma recognised the 1s were in greater need of his expertise. Nihal also wandered in late after his English breakfast over ran.

The game began quickly with Doidge trapping an aerial in the D onto Birdie’s head which, interestingly enough, won us a free hit out. That rule must be hidden in the depths of the rule book since I have never come across it before. You live and you learn.

At some point in the first half, Doidge scored his first PC of the day and the ever-exciting play dragged fans away from the 1s game and over to Pitch 2 where the real hockey was being played.

Schnu got battered, Scotty got battered but luckily their experience of Northern and Midlands hockey had prepared them well for a physical encounter. Dylan took exception to one of the umpire’s tight trousers. Some great saves by Ore kept us in the game which led to him securing POM.

Cool, calm and collected work from the half backs Calnan and Lars kept the game flowing, the short corners kept on coming up at the attacking end and Doidge bagged a couple more goals. The game continued to get rowdy and Deaks was yellow carded for a tackle which didn’t seem too bad; no harm, no foul as Mattie would say. And an almost gentlemanly touch on the chest by Dan on one of their players saw him also yellow carded, (“the game’s gone soft”). But this was not the end of the apparent foul play in the eyes of the umpires as Scotty threw himself passionately at one of their players giving away a PS.

The game was now tied at 3-3 with just two minutes to go, but Deaks urged the lads to go for the win. An attempted header by Jack led to a short corner opportunity to win the game… and with Doidge slowly making his way forward, it was won. As the Surbiton side celebrated and thanked the fans, the Indian Gym team expressed their thoughts to the umpires, rumour has it they are still arguing with them in the clubhouse. Somehow Surbiton received four greens and two yellows, compared to one green and one yellow for the opposition.

A great day for the Men’s performance section of the club, picking up six points across the top two sides. And the M2 look forward to Spencer away next week where they hope to cause a league upset.