Men's 2s 6 - 0 Spencer

London League Premier Division

After a long, cold, but peaceful walk through Battersea Park, the majority of the team arrived to see the 3rdXI still warming up, so we made ourselves comfortable and tried to stay as warm as possible! When ours eventually came about we saw that the game, from viewing our opposition, would be a tough one!!

That’s what we assumed!

Our hockey started off as crisp as the day with some silky 1-2's between Duncan Howarth and the forwards and within the first ten minutes this partnership broke through, Spunks there to finish off a well executed move.

Spencer were on the back foot for much of the first half apart from a few wafer thin chances presented to them by our sloppy defending, juxtaposed to us who failed on more than one occasion to convert cross goal balls that had the keeper sprawled out in no man’s land!

However this was soon rectified by the hard work of Dwain and Spunks resulting in an accurate ball to Meddy who cleanly converted it under the goalie. Sensing we had the upper hand our hockey became as cosmopolitan as the area hosting us, a result of us all being on the same wavelength, 3 on 3's looking favourable 80% of the time!

Whilst riding on the wave of confidence, we attacked down both flanks, Dillet on the right linking well with Dwain and Fitz, and Spunks on the left working with Duncan Scott and Meddy. The team's persistence was rewarded with a short corner, and on the second attempt, Dwain slotted a divine drag into the top left corner of the goal.

More chances came from Dillet and the forwards but no goals came as we went into the break.

Looking comfortable at 3-0, the half time team talk took on one theme, complacency.

We did what was said, carried on playing and got the important 4th goal to ease pressure on ourselves. This time it was Fitz who stepped up to put it in the net. Our goals were of the shorter range, as we seemed to succeed in passing it quickly behind them and using the 45 degree ball effectively.

The second half was a better exchange between the two teams, Spencer looking slightly more threatening than in the 1st, but still controllable. We had a high press on them, Seye seeing the half way line a few times, with the opposition’s forward miles behind our lines. Even with the confidence of the transfer round the back, we were still vulnerable to counter attacks, and they could have capitalised a few times if it wasn’t for the solid defending of Seye and Rafe, backed up by Paul who did well to hang on to a clean sheet (a reverse stick tackle being the highlight).

This did not stop us as we did not hold back and Spunks was in the right place to take his second of the match.  Cruise control on. It was just a case of preventing them from scoring now, but they failed to make the most of their slim chances. The last goal was nice to finish on, a breakaway from an absorbed attack saw slick passing to leave Dwain with an easy tap in to put his tally up to 2.

6-0, a taste of what this team has to offer!

Team: Coltham, Gogarty, Budden, Akande, Pine, Gilkes, Quanchan, Scott, Medcalf, Howarth, Fitzpatrick, Wimshurst.

Scorers: Quanchan (2), Howarth (2), Medcalf (1), Fitzpatrick (1)