Goal scorer:
Dan Rose
Man of the match:
Paul (entrapment) Neyton
Saturday 26th January and it was derby day two of the season as the 2nd XI travelled the short distance to local rivals Staines.
A beautiful winter’s day provided the backdrop to probably the best game of the season for the 2s. We travelled with a re-jigged team. Shar popped up from the 3s to add experience and composure to the defence, allowing captain Washer to move back to the right side of midfield and Dawson ‘I did 10 miles before the game’ Hardiman returned from the North sea squalls to add much needed presence up front.
Following a heavy defeat to Winchester the week before, the focus for this game was communication and enjoyment. No pressure, just play as you want. Quite possibly the best advice I’ve given so far this season. What a response from this team. Yes, we lost…but my god it was close and great fun to play in. Things couldn’t have started better, early pressure on the Staines defence found weak spots in their full backs so from there we built. As always, chances were hard to come by and Staines too started to work themselves into the game. The defence however, in contrast to previous games, was far more balanced and organised with Shar doing some great work to get people into the right places; Digger as always mopped up any loose balls and Billy and Charlie finally found their voices shouting at the midfield to do something for them. Up front, young Dan Rose continued to play like someone far beyond his years responding well to Dawson’s more experienced methods. And so it was no real surprise when we took the lead following some fantastic pressure from Cole and Washer in the midield to break up the Staines Defence. Feeding Dawson on the right he crossed for Rosey who finished neatly from a couple of yards. 1 – 0 was so very nearly followed by 2 – 0 shortly after when Cole found Washer hammering into the ‘D’ only to see his reverse hit skim the crossbar from the top (ish) of the ‘D’. Staines continued to exert pressure through their central midfield as the half came to a close and started to show the form that has put them at the top of the league. A knock to Smarty in the midfield meant we had to change things briefly which disrupted our rhythm for a while and this coupled with a sustained period of pressure saw Staines pick up two very fortuitous goals. First, after the ball ran up Billy’s stick and off his face, Staines were allowed to play on and bury the chance from a yard or so. And the second? Well let’s just say that I haven’t seen a ball go like that off an attempted reverse hit before and I don’t think Dan in goal has either – he wasn’t quite sure what to do with a reverse bob scuff. It threw us all and trickled in. We turned in disbelief and I think Staines turned in shame.
Still, half time, 2 – 1 down and very much leading the game. We kept things the same for the 2nd half and weathered early pressure from Staines repelling short corners and counter attacks. The last 20 minutes? Well that was all Ashford with some of the best attacking and patient hockey we’ve played. We put the ball into channels, we made leads, we won corners, we hit the post, we kept the ball moving and started to run Staines off the pitch but we just couldn’t find that finish we so richly deserved.
Some lost patience with a couple of green cards being flashed but all in all this was possibly the best derby I’ve played in with Staines.
No malice, no aggro just good hockey with both teams desperate to come out on top. The game ended on a series of short corners to Ashford where we learnt another valuable lesson. Perhaps if we practiced more at training we might have come away with the win as we appeared a little clueless at the top. Still, the game ended on a high for us.
This was a much, much better performance by the 2s and although we dropped 3 points we’ve found the belief to take into the rest of the season and keep ourselves in this league.
This was a big performance. The 2s welcome Brighton to Short Lane on Saturday looking for 3 points.
Washer
