Men's 2s 3 - 3 Indian Gymkhana

London League Premier Division

After a brilliant win away at Spencer, Guildford couldn't put together a side for last Saturday’s match. We therefore headed into this weekend's game with a good 10 day refresh which I am sure everyone used wisely. We headed to lovely Hounslow in the beautiful weather. It was dark and cold with torrential rain. We even had to ask for the flood lights to be turned on. Once changed in the very professional changing rooms, we headed out onto the pitch. With some key players missing we knew that this was always going to be a rough and tough match. The game started well with some interlinking passes between attack and midfield. This eventually paid off. After some quick two-touch passing between Spunks and Croydon the ball was slipped into the path of Medcalf on the left hand side who struck the ball solidly off the wrong foot into the bottom corner giving us the early lead.

We could already tell that the game had begun to heat up with Indian Gym using their well known techniques to try and distract us. Although being well down in the league they did have some useful and skillful players, including their 1^st XI Captain…..!!! In a matter of minutes, they shot back with an equalizer. With some bad defending starting with the forwards, we let them run all the way down the left hand side and get a sloppy goal. We knew that we were better than this and upped the level. They were determined to mentally break us, tripping up Medcalf intentionally after a run, nudging and hitting us. This was going to be a fiery battle for the full 70 minutes. We did not let this get to us, we continued to keep the ball and press forwards. Then with some quick passing from Dillet and Dwain, it opened up for Will Arthur to use some lovely skill and attack into the opposition circle. We shot back with the 2nd goal again only minutes after their equalizer.

We had improved our defence but a few of their players were using their skill to wobble down the left hand side and cut back into the circle which was causing more problems for us. After a good save from Nathan the ball was knocked back out into the path of one of Indian Gym's players who hit the ball so hard into the top of the goal it nearly tore the netting.

This was becoming a fast and frantic end to end game with neither team defending as they should. Towards the end of the half a flowing team move reminiscent of our performance against Spencer was finished well by Mike Shelton. EG would go into the 2nd half with a 3-2 lead.

By this time the weather had not got any better. It was cold, dark, wet and miserable. We headed into the 2nd half determined to improve on our score. They continued to niggle us both on and off the ball with tempers beginning to flare. After Spunky had a word with their captain the game began to settle and hockey was beginning to be played. We again strung together some nice passes all the way up the pitch and had numerous chances to put us further ahead. Dwain worked their defence using his skill to get around their centre back only to hit the post due an unlucky deflection. Both Will Arthur and Croydon both had chances to put us further ahead but none seemed to be able to put the ball into the back of the net. As the end drew nearer panic set in and we were giving away sloppy passes and trying to work it down the middle too much. The game was still very fiery with sticks and tackles flying in from all angles. Indian Gym went down to 10 men after a shocking tackle on Budden for which they still had the nerve to appeal against. They seemed to be penetrating our attacking circle more and more, which eventually led to an equalizer. We were determined not to draw with Indian Gym as we were clearly the better side but just could not put it together up front. At times we showed signs of our quality with some slick fast passing all around the park but were let down both finishing and defending.

With clearly 5 minutes left on the clock the umpire "farted" into his whistle bringing everyone to a halt. With everyone in dismay not knowing what was going on he called for full time and the game was ended. It was an unfortunate result, drawing a game which we clearly could have and should have won. After the game however we changed and showered to be treated to a lovely curry, one which could have been said to have had as much fire as the match.  

Team: Bullens, Akande, Budden, Pine, Holland, Gilkes, Quanchan, Scott, Howarth, Medcalf, Wimshurst, Arthur, Shelton.

Scorers: Medcalf, Arthur, Shelton