A lack of numbers across the club meant that we may have had to forfeit the game. Dan doubling up, and Riley playing his first game for the 6’s this season however meant we could play and we arrived a Lee Valley with a bare 11.

Pre match excitement ensued as we were all looking forward to playing on the Olympic pitch. The game before us was of a very high standard and we wanted to try and get somewhere close to that level of effort on the pitch.

Crostyx were clearly a good side and we knew from the off it would be a challenging game. We started brightly with the youngsters settling into the game well and creating some good moves. Unfortunately, Crostyx were just too good for us and we found ourselves 2 goals down inside 10 minutes after some good play from the opposition and well taken goals.

A slight re-jig in defence saw us set up a bit better to deal with some of their moves and we started to look stronger. Some excellent midfield tracking back, last ditch defending, and some excellent saves from Jonny kept us even almost for the rest of the half. Just before half time they finally broke through us and slipped a lovely ball across the D to the unmarked striker on the far post. Jonny had no chance with that and we went in at half time 3 nil down.

A positive team talk at half time spurred everyone on and we took to the field in the second half looking to try and get back in the game. We started the second half much stronger and played some excellent hockey building the play from back to front and getting much higher up the pitch.

The opposition had a bench full of subs and were able to rotate their players but we didn’t have that luxury and battled hard to keep in the game. The youngsters again combined multiple times to create some good moves for us but we weren’t able to get into the D to create too much in front of their goal. Our supporters were very vocal (especially Thommo!) and this was spurring us on to stay in the game.

Whilst we didn’t concede again from open play, their pressure on us built up and their fourth came from a well worked short corner. We changed our set up to cope with their short corner routines and defended short corner after short corner as they continued to pile pressure on us. Their fifth and final goal came from yet another short corner routine again giving Jonny no chance.

Despite losing the game 5 nil, the effort from all our players was great to see and it was another really enjoyable game against a good team. Hopefully if we get another chance to play on that pitch again we will be able to give the same level of effort but with a better outcome.

Man of the Match - Billy Danby
Match report Dave Street