After another positive result the week before and moving into 2nd place, we knew that Crostyx at home would be wanting to get their revenge for the close loss to the Old Boys earlier in the season.

Difficult preparation and the main thing were making sure that we were able to field a team and still feeling the effects from the Rochford battle! Army was back between the sticks, and it was a welcome return for Perm to M3s, and we got support from Doug who jumped in to help us out and make sure that we had a substitute. Thank you to Matt and Suzanne for ensuring we had everything registered on late Friday night!

Crostyx had made sure that they had filled their bench, so had a full complement, Old Boys just arrived in time to make sure that we had 11 on the pitch after the roads had not been kind and no time for a warmup. This appeared to have a knock-on effect, and it is fair to say that we started slowly, Crostyx had started positively and it was a case of us deciding the best positions during the game, which took a while to settle down. It wasn't long during this period that Crostyx won a short corner, the shot came in which Army was not able to keep out, however there were questions as to whether the ball was hit above the backboard height, however it was still awarded. Just like London buses, this was closely followed up with a second goal for Crostyx and meant that it was going to be an uphill task for the Old boys.

It was time to dig in and for the remainder of the first half, Old Boys definitely upped the intensity and started to get a foot hold in the game. Pete and Riz in the middle of the park, were starting to drive us forward and we were creating chances for George and Adam but just couldn't get the goal we needed. We got to half time and although the scoreline wasn't what we wanted, there was positivity in the improved performance and we were creating chances.

The second half started, old boys continued where they had left off and we pushed Crostyx backwards and were starting to put pressure on them and create chance after chance. With good saves, last ditch tackles, we unfortunately could not get the goal that our played deserved and there were chances to Doug and Adam, with just inches wide. Mid way through the half we were finally back in the game, it came from a short corner, which had come back to Riz just in front of the goalkeeper and he made sure of the deft finish past the keeper and took a knock as part of it.

Game on, Old boys didn't let up and there were some really great play down the flanks, but we could not get the second goal that our play deserved. George was being a constant threat to their backline and wing play from Will and Pete, was being really effective. As can happen, we were pushing forward and one of the few breaks by Crostyx in the second half just minutes before the end, put the game to bed with another goal and the game finished 3-1.

Whilst the result did not go our way today, it was still a great performance and the play from the team was still up there and we just did not get the run of the green today!! This unfortunately brought to an end the unbeaten run for the M3s which goes back to 15 February 2025 and meant it had been 20 games unbeaten with 18 of them wins. Well done to all that have contributed to this amazing run and we will move on to next week’s home game against Saffron Walden.

We will take the positives out of the game, we are still playing some really excellent hockey and the confidence remains high.

Special thanks to Perm, Doug and Leo (on keeper standby throughout the game)

MOM: Pete Cossey
Goals: Riz Khan