Another almost full weekend where the highlight was a cracking top-of-the-table clash for the Ladies 1st XI
Men’s 3rd XI 4-2 Surbiton
Match report as seen through the eyes of Keiran
8:00 Wake up. Pre match nerves have settled in. I pray to the shrine of Doble I set up and go over to my laptop. Search inspirational quotes in order to get myself in the right head space.
9:00 Put on full kit so that by the time the lads arrive I don’t have to do the warm up
9:15 Everyone else arrives and we chat some bollocks.
9:30 Big chief arrives late
9:40 The lads start hitting balls at me, one hit my arm pretty hard, definitely wasn’t a shot from Carney then.
9:55 Did some more tossing with Martin. He has a lovely technique.
10:00 Game starts
10:05 They score a nice goal. Some decent play from their bald guy in the middle
10:15 We come back with a tap in from Eds. Build up to the goal was amazing, one touch between Jake, Chris and Eds. Reminiscent of Barca circa 2012.
10:20 We score again through Jake who clearly has smashed some EPO performance enhancers since lockdown because the man’s stick is hotter than my gooch in this goalie kit.
10:35 Eds and Carney give a team talk, I repeat what they say but use the term “from the back it looks like” so everyone thinks I can read the game. Big chief tried to say something but nobody listened.
10:40-50 Sustained pressure from us and we score some messy but deserved goals through GG and Eds. Our short corner conversion rate is now below 3%
11:00 Eds calls Martin a twat. Green
11:03 Their overly competitive 40 year old, calls the other umpire a twat and on his way off calls Martin a knob. Yellow
11:10 After playing some average hockey they score through my legs. To be fair the 14 year old hit it hard …
11:30-2 A few substantial meals later and we have put the world to right. Long live the club.
4 goals to us
2 to them
6 jugs
6 substantial meals
Mom: Jan (last oc game)
Dod: Captain KT
Woking 4s 2-3 Men’s 5th XI
Breaking a continuous run of being ever present since becoming skipper is always a tough call. Not when you have the choice between canine bitches strolling round a dark cold council owned park and a white sandy Maldives beach and a snorkel. To ensure a healthy family left and returns to the UK the Crumbies took our face masks as they were nowhere to be seen on Saturday bit instead were being worn at Terminal 5 to give Covid no chance.
Satnav has limited reliability when visiting Wishbone Way, Goldsworth Park as when one reaches the car park for Woking HC the players are a mere speck on the horizon and therefore CJ’s estimated time of arrival was way off beam as was AJ’s the latter less so. With a similar side to last week, Sam replacing our Maldives bound skipper and the recovering Grant doing a Saffer swap with Justin being the only changes is a clear sign as to how much we are all enjoying this season. The start time saw a far greater change to last week with 4.40pm replacing 9.30am and the missing bulbs from the floodlights were a sign of the locals needing extra lights to provide the heat to grow their suspect crops evidenced by the whiff floating across the pitch as the game progressed. Woking always provide a very good challenge and are another club who are going in the right direction, a good club spirit, up and coming first team, a good colts set up and colts throughout their ranks. Although not having the age and midriff spread of our team a crop of younger players and some older heads suggested we would have a tough game and so it proved. With the high flying 3s losing 4-1 we had to redress the balance.
We huffed and puffed in the first half to no real avail being snuffed out by the home team’s tactics. Our one short corner ended up in the goal was adjudged to be too high as the first direct shot went straight into the rigging and even the poor lighting did not deceive the umpire. Being caught on the break a few times gave us the warning not to lose the ball but we did not take heed and allowed their best defender to distribute the ball superbly and we went one down as their fast and skillful forwards undid us. Without the skipper to gee us up at half time, the senior pros, always in the skipper’s shadow, stepped up and a game plan was set up. Five minutes into the second half the plan nearly unraveled as a top crashed ball from inside the Woking’s half was deflected home and we were two down.
From this point onwards our team and squad ethic came to the fore. A scramble goal brought us back into the match and two golden opportunities for Woking to seal the game went begging with 3 v 1 advantages cocked up by one player going alone when we were absolutely stuffed. Ringing regular changes we equalized with another Joe poach with his dive and slap of the ball making the difficult look easy. Woking were deflated and we were buoyant. In a game of very few real chances our young forwards combined and won our only corner of the second half. The planned corner chat was overheard by the Woking keeper and we changed the plan with a vicious straight strike causing all sorts of problems as the massive topping of the ball sent it up in a spinning arc to hit the keeper on its way down and top spin into the goal. No backboard questions this time as the backboard was not reached.
There was just time for Gareth to bale us out in the dying minutes on two occasion as with the second including an entertaining 1-2 with the post that oddly was not preceded with the hockey equivalent of “in the hole” , “post” . Our experience and team work saw us through the second half and especially the siege of the last 5 minutes and that was the difference. A few older heads in the Woking team would probably have enabled Woking to sneak the points with their youth becoming over excited and making wrong choices at key times. This was a top performance and a big result. Yes, we were fortunate to snatch a win from the jaws of defeat with the converse applying to the oppo.
Crumbie acknowledged the result from Abu Dhabi which, the last time I checked, has red sand but not the white sand and azure waters of the Indian Ocean and perhaps booking a holiday through Back Street Holidays Inc has its detractions even though cheap. The much awaited match v Sanderstead, postponed twice for Covid reasons, is in the calendar for the 19th but seems likely to fall victim again to a postponement and therefore a busy March and April is on the cards. Have a good festive break everyone with the second half of the season giving us the opportunity to revers the early 1-2 defeats.
Ladies 4th XI 3 – 0 Oxted Ladies 3rd XI
