“One week on and mighty disappointed at the reverse on the Dukes Meadows lake 3 points was a necessity. Marlow were one of the better sides we played against first time round, a team that wanted to play good hockey. The luxury of 16 in the squad meant different dynamics and approach. Brutus was also able to renew his acquaintance with his mate Paddy.
2 umps who wanted to allow the game to flow added to the prospects of an open free flowing game and so it proved to be.
At 0 – 0 with 30 minutes gone Marlow were the ones justifiably feeling that they should have been in front. Skip had kept them at bay with his usual solid and undemonstrative performance whilst at the other end 3 poorly placed last passes and a good double save from their keeper kept us at bay.
All was to change as we picked the ball up in the right hand corner of our half. A rapid double transfer to the left and back to George on the right edge of Marlow’s 25 saw a pint point cross met by the diving P to divert the ball into the top corner, the best team goal we have scored this season. 4 minutes later George won our first short that Rippers crashed home with the final hit of the first half. The bad luck we had last week had been balanced up as on another day we could have been penalised at the start of the move for the first goal and the short for the second may not have been awarded.
A flattering 2 – 0 score had really taken the wind out of Marlow’s sails. The first 10 of the second half were going to be pivotal to our season. Marlow had to take something from the game to keep in touch at the top. As expected Marlow came at us hard and forced a couple of corners that Skip again sorted out. We soaked up the pressure, used the fresh legs on the side with regular rotations. A third goal was key and soon it came from Wils, followed by 2 more in a purple 5 minutes with 2 super team goals and our second short corner flicked home by Wils and a follow up from P. Marlow had to be left wondering how they were suddenly 5 down having had at least an equal amount of the ball. Perhaps playing on the break is not a bad concept after all.
To their credit Marlow kept wanting to play hockey that enabled us to again exploit the spaces with Wils adding 2 more so putting him up the Fantasy League table. A clean sheet beckoned for the first time this season with our being helped by Bieber ( or is it Lee Travis ?) expertly conning the umpire by tipping the ball round the post with his little toe. 7 – 0 and a huge statement to the rest of the league.
This was a complete squad performance albeit disappointing for those who did not play as much as others.
No bad feelings from Marlow who were gracious in defeat with one sensing that they will have an influence on the outcome of the promotion race in their remaining games.
Now to follow up this performance with 9 more before the end of the season”
Knappy