MATCH REPORT M2 v Berkhampsted & Hemel Hempstead Hockey Club 5’s

It was a dreich Saturday afternoon/early evening push back in the village of Cow Roast (no I’m not joking it’s a place!), against an experienced Berko side with a smattering of youthful legs.  We fully expected to be playing in driving rain but actually the weather Gods were with us and we mainly got away without much in the way of rain.

The home side applied a little pressure early on but in relatively short order Wootton made a break through with Alex C slotting one away.  This provided a degree of confidence and Wootton had the lion share of the ball and created a number of short corner opportunities with Mitch taking the honours, ably supported by Chairman Lee on stopping duties, but what must have a been a combined hockey playing years of somewhere between 150-200 Berko were equal to the varied corner routines onslaught.

To illustrate the breadth of time and space Wootton created,  the next tally on the score sheet was a moment of hockey genius created by two of Woottons very own veteran dream team. With a, not often seen, foray past the half way line from this author with a pin point pass to midfield dynamo Darren in the D, who with a style and panache that could only have been matched by Sean Kerly or Imran Sherwani in their heyday found the back of the net with guided shot past a floundering keeper.

Wootton kept playing to their strengths and with a mix of hard work, short accurate passing and quality communication they continued to dominate the first half.  Where possible using generous space on the wings and increasing the pressure on the D when they could.  Eventually the Berko defence cracked again and Alex C bagged his second and made the scoreline 3-0 at half time.

After lots of positive reinforcement and an insightful and incisive half time team talk from our illustrious leader, Wootton started the second half with the same degree of vim and vigour that they had finished the first.  It wasn’t long before the second half tempo of Wootton’s play was rewarded with a fine finish for Archer, creating a comfortable lead.  This didn’t stop the determination of the visiting side or quell their desire for more Berko blood, in fact they very nearly got it for real after what I’m going to call a ‘misunderstanding’ between a couple of players who quite frankly should have known better.  (My heartfelt apologies to any of the more sensitive of my team mates who may not be used to such vociferously colourful language and to the umpires who they tell me were sounding their whistles but I think the red mist must have muffled the noise somewhat!)

Wootton continued to battle as the Berko massive shored up their defences, Alex C managed to not complete his hatrick, possibly some whispers of jug avoidance but definitely was not helped by what seemed like some harsh decisions against him by the umpire and some enthusiastic tackling that left him prostrate on more than one occasion.

Apart from the rubbish weather we travelled through, the stupidly late pushback and little bit of handbags; a very positive afternoons work from the mighty 2’s, hopefully more of the same to follow in a fortnight!