Men’s 2s 1 - 3 London Wayfarers 1s (A)
By Dewi Roblin
Goalscorer: Ollie Stone (PC)
A top of the table clash at Kings House fields against Wayfarers presented an opportunity for the 2s to right the wrongs of a narrow, last minute defeat in the reverse fixture earlier in the season.
We had the pleasure of some pre-match reading having received a pre-release copy of the thesis, 'The Art and Skill of PCD Warfare', written by and starring Dr. Dewi Roblin BSc (Hons) ACA PoW. With these absorbing words in mind and an energetic warm up led by Redders (a.k.a Bartram 2.0), we pushed back.
It was a scrappy first half with Wayfarers taking the lead with a double deflected goal to make it 0-1. The team bounced back by building up some good phases of hockey to win a corner. A messy corner was finished in a goal mouth scramble off Rooney their keeper by Stoner and we were back in the game.
The scrappiness of the half continued and the game started to turn into 'ping pong' with Wayfarers capitalising on a free man back post for their second.
The second half began in the same manner. End to end turnovers feeding Wayfarers’ style of play, run-trap-pass-run. In doing so they won a penalty corner which they converted with a soft drag-flick that Dewi should’ve saved (all that theory for nothing!) and in doing so took away any momentum that the 2s had of gaining a foothold in the game. In his defence, Obo released a statement late on Sunday evening - that they had identified a defect with their left Robo+ orange kicker and have recalled all products back to the factory. Apparently there was a hole in it, just rotten luck!
3-1 the team continued to fight in Q4 to try to create an opening but with not much success.
A few positives were that our resident skin head Jack, broke some hearts and ankles on the field and Morgs didn’t get a card. Morgs does need to have a word with his 'mini-me' Hanson who got a green for his potty-mouth.
Tough day at the office for all but lessons learnt. We’ve been in this situation before and have bounced back, promotion is still in our hands. We turn to Tunbridge Wells next weekend at home, to get revenge on their supporters who despise happiness, celebration and any other form of positive emotion - as it’s not what hockey’s about.