BU14 Marlins Enjoy Great Performance vs OKs
By Rutger Mons
On the first Christmas advent calendar day in 2024, the exciting U14 Boys Marlins team faced their familiar foe, the Old Kingstonians U14 at KGS who won this league last season.
Our Marlins boys are actually still U12 enacting the "Rookie" role in this hockey league, a tall order facing up against boys all two to three years (and feet!) bigger than them.
As soon as super coach Jacob P (Surbiton's newest England International) reined the boys in for the start of the game, the autumn heavens duly opened, this however did not dampen the attacking spirit of the game as the OKs launched a barrage of counter attacks against the young Marlins who were only just settling in.
After a miss from the opposition and a couple of blinding saves by goalie Foden, the silky Graves, Oli S and Woodi combined perfectly and setup Sealy for a simple tap in to settle Marlins nerves but within the space of two minutes OKs equalised evenly poising the game for a while. From that moment onwards the match turned - rock solid defence by Stacey, McIlroy and Dempsey frustrated the opposition neutralising their attacks into turnovers allowing the midfielders to effortlessly penetrate the OKs D and feed our forwards who were living the dream. Half time 4-1.
After devouring the moreish Waitrose wine gums during the break, the goals continued to flow due to stunning match-up work by Seume / Stevenson / Giles laying perfect assists for the forwards to add to their tally; thereafter Luuk, Oli M and Woodi tormented the opposition with their trademark tiki taka hockey style of play teleporting their doting parents back to the Cruyffian-football era. The game eventually fizzled out with an entertaining set of goalscoring clangers from both teams (very tik-tok worthy) ending the tie in a resounding 9-1 result thoroughly enjoyed by their travelling "NO DOGS ALLOWED" faithful with and opposition alike. WOOF!
The Marlins are away next week against their noisy tennis neighbours (Wimbledon) but without coach Jacob P who will no doubt be there in hearts and mind from a sunny Santiago del Estero, Argentina getting ready for the start of his first FIH Pro-League adventure - we wish him a big VAMOS!
Rutger (team badger-manager U12 Red Pool)