The second instalment of the Chelmsford double bill saw the Old Boys looking to keep pace with fellow unbeaten side Waltham Forest at the top of 2SE. When you visit Chelmer Park you know that the opposition will be well drilled with a penchant for an aerial or fifteen so it was vital that the boys in Old Gold were disciplined and captain KJ-Jury emphasised that we stood the best chance of winning this game when we played 'our hockey' and not get baited into playing on their terms...there has never been any fun in sticking to the script and with so any mercurial talents it would come down to ruthless finishing and dogged defending to win the day.

The difference on the day was the execution of short corners and without Ben Cotton we amended the hierarchy to elevate James Waters to lead gunslinger and this faith was repaid with two first half drags - the first zipped in at backboard height in the left hand side and the other on the stroke of halftime went high and right into the side netting. Our struggles scoring from open play persisted in this game with some clever interplay around the shoulder of the D being undone by a lack of urgency in the finishing department - rumour has it Connor Jury still hasn't connected with his intended shot after pulling off a fantastic turn to leave his marker behind.

Dave Ashworth labelled the back four as 'the most fluid attempt at marking he has ever seen' which I feel may have been a touch harsh seeing as we notched another clean sheet in the absence of defensive 'colossus' Luke Knowles. It must be noted that this clean sheet owed a lot to a fantastic stick save from Joe Mann getting down low to his right at a short corner, luckily by this point he had learned his left and right after instructing his runners at a previous short corner to go firstly to his left and then his other left - to be fair it is hard to do the L R check with your hands inside those large pads. The defending may have been made a touch more difficult after Jacket and Max took a couple minutes on the sideline each, if I could insert the clip of Jose Mourinho "If I speak I am in trouble" that would be most appropriate. Dave decided to make the last two minutes exciting for the spectators by coming down with a classic case of the 'Millanes' passing to the men in green instead of those in Old Gold but the three points were successfully brought back to the Essex Rivieria.

Man of the match went to James Waters for his game defining drag flicks, a pitch perfect audition for that role going forward this season. Jacket of Shame proved that the Mens 2nd XI are lacking the ability of independent thought as a classic stitch job was executed on the team's resident fall guy for I believe being too good. My prize for my excellence was the pleasure of writing this match report.

Jacket