Mens 2nds Vs Daventry - Who says hockey is a sport of Gentleman? :D

This weeks fixture found Derby against bottom of the league Daventry. Spirits were high for a 3pointer and to get some much needed space in the table away from Loughborough
sharks in relegation.

The standard Matt Bunker warm up was enforced with Ben Taylor doing his part with Mike Loveless in goals. Needless to say Ben smashing a kicker strap before the start certainly made life interesting for Mike’s second game in a Derby Asterdale shirt.

Our luck seemed to take another wrong turn when we found out that Daventry had no first team fixture, leaving our opposition with a strong 1st team midfield attack. Not to be fazed Derby pressed hard and Matt Hexter continued to cause havoc attacking the Daventry defence from all over the pitch.

The first half was certainly damage limitation for Derby. Two weeks off has ruined the tempo we had leading upto this fixture. Passes seemed slow and hard to chase down but I think all would agree the pitch was more like playing on grass - slow, wet and bouncy!

Half time soon approached with a 1-1 score line. Pete Chesney had stepped into left back this week and had experienced a silly busy first half but showed calm and patience in his tackles.

In all fairness the half time score was a poor reflection on Daventry who should have been plenty ahead. I think the prowess of Ross Richards was more than welcome as our centre back this week.

The second half was a simple affair. Derby just needed to play at our own pace and dare I say it. “SIMPLE HOCKEY” What followed was amazing. Ben Taylor took the push back to his midfield via Sam Taylor and the switching of passes between the Derby players was beautiful. Daventry couldn’t get a player to the ball and Derby took a surprising lead! I think every Derby player had the ball before the goal......awesome!

Daventry soon levelled the score line but Derby were at full voice and certainly getting into the stride of the game. Dave Green on the right wing and Matt Parker on left wing made a clear effort to keep wide outlet passes for the defence counter attacks.

Derby kept patience in the game with Kyle Sev springing up in perfect positions for the quick counter attacks. We took the lead again and again soon gave a goal back to Daventry. Considering Mikes save ratio he cannot be blamed for letting 3 slip past.

Then followed a rare moment of myself charging from right back to spring a counter attack with all Daventry players deep in our half.. A filthy tackle from behind by Daventry to stop play then led to an exchange of words and exchange of testosterone. This disruption of play found Derby taking the lead within seconds for the 3rd time. I am going to take an assist on this one fellas! I cannot accept I should have been sent off but maybe a green to calm me down would have been accepted.

So, 4-4 draw. Not bad and at least one point. Still in need for a win to push away from the relegation zone for comfort, however, with the players we have I am confident we can do it!

Man of the Match: You guessed it, Ross. Enough said as always!

Dick of the Day: Ben Taylor. The team are split as to why. Maybe for the attempted cricket style goal shot that went very wrong. The other for the argument with a Daventry 1st player that told him we were S... Ummm pants and Bens response being “Your bottom of the league, how many goals have you scored, I bet I have more!” A unanimous laugh from all including the umpires makes this the winner for me.