Mens 3rds at Kettering

Well, after an eventful week , this game was always going to be something of a challenge, but boy life conspired against us at pretty much every turn. The game against Kettering is always a drag because of the distance, but the lads there are always a nice bunch and the games are always good natured and clean, which was just as well because the team consisted of one die hard 3rd team player (Darren Howard), two 4th team players (me and Dale) and a bunch of 5th team players. Smiley had joined the ranks at the last minute (thanks very much) and Dalraj had developed flu at the last minute (boo..hope you get better soon), but we had 11. After some faffing before we started off, with Dale not having a box , we then discovered when we got there that he'd left his helmet behind. Cue some frantic phone calls with the Kettering captain trying his best to help us find one. In the end the GK of a Leicester ladies side that played before we went on lent us hers...many thanks to Tom for having far more front than Brighton in negotiating that one. I was looking forwad to actually playing some hockey

The final result of us losing 6-1 doesn't tell the story of the game at all. The game was very even, but where Kettering took their chances, we did not. The game was played at a fairly steady pace throughout, with both sides passing nicely and using both wings. We had a bit of messing about with positions in the first half with some players not being as fit as they'd need to be at this level (you know who you are/ I am), but by the end of the half we were settled. They went in the half time break 2-0 up, with the only difference being that they passed the ball in and around us in the D to create scoring opportunities whereas we were hitting long balls across the D. At this level that won't work. After the break we dominated the game for 10 minues, but their defence and their keeper in particular were on form. They scored another goal and then Smiley got injured and had to go off. After that we were really on the back foot and the midfield opened up as both sides became tired. Then I got wacked on the ankle at a short corner and slowly became less mobile (OK, so i wasn't that mobile in the first place) and we had to rearrange the midfield and defence a fair bit. The rest was statistics, but in the last 10 minutes they tired and we rallied with three counter attacks. In the third attack Tom finally got a clear sight of goal and scored.

The important thing with this game was never going to be the result. I had hoped that the young team we took down could compete and for the majority of the game they did. Every player contributed as much as they could to the game and no-one can ask for any more than that. There isn't much wrong with our midfield and attack; we were maybe a bit naive in front of goal and as mentioned in the first half we kept hitting the ball long into the D. This stopped in the 2nd half and the Kettering captain/coach told me he was astounded we hadn't scored at least two more goals. Hopefully in the coming games we can get a better balance in defence however.

One final note and thank you, which goes to the umpires. This game witnessed the finest umpiring display I have see outside of a top level league game in a very long time. They applied the rules fairly and evenly and as a player you can't ask for more than that.

Cheers...P