Mens 1st XI
Matches
Sat 19 Oct 2024  ·  East Men's Division 2 North West
Newmarket 1
1
4
Kettering Hockey Club
Mens 1st XI
Good-to-Soft Performance as We Jockey for Promotion

Good-to-Soft Performance as We Jockey for Promotion

Matthew Coe21 Oct - 12:58
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What a delightful leisure centre!

Another match brought another deceptive scoreline: putting four past a team we had never played before may seem cushy, but that comfortable number masks a lack of clinical finishing highlighted throughout other match reports - apart from Millsy, but we'll get to him soon... And, as a further caveat, the Newmarket keeper had the game of his life. Even when we executed a race down the baseline and the accompanying pullback to perfection, he was there, flinging himself across the goal and getting just enough on it to keep us frustrated.

Nonetheless, we got ahead quickly. One of those above moves saw Harry's shot found Millsy on his weak side, leaning away from goal, and the ball rising from a bounce. His tomahawk half-volley smashed into the roof of the net, still rising as it went in. Of course, it was at the end that didn't have the camera rolling. Still, the memories remain. 0-1. Feeling lethal, Millsy got another soon after, smashing the ball in from the right of the D. 0-2. Our undisputed dominance lessened after this second goal, and the game became more to-and-fro. Some loose marking allowed Newmarket's adolescent attackers through. An initial save rebounded to the initial striker, a lad who made Barney look like Jimmy Carter's recent birthday photograph, who looped it upwards towards the goal. Ross, usually reliable when it comes to stopping shots at goal, got his obligatory touch on it. He may not have tipped away from goal, but his quick reactions took enough pace off the ball for it to be easily swattable for Ben, who had got back to the goalline. Perhaps his glasses were foggy. The ball drifted past him with all the speed of a geriatric snowflake. 1-2. Cometh the hour, cometh the man, and Tatty scored our third, settling our nerves somewhat.

After declaring himself our best player during our half-time team-talk, Sellers was the subject of ridicule in Newmarket's conflab, but they also declared us a good team - apparently due to the presence of Harry's whiteboard, and we came back out eager to show how good we were. Newmarket's keeper raised his game even higher, though, and continued to keep us out. We did make his job slightly easier, in all fairness, as several opportunities for a pullback were ignored in favour of a tricky shot. Tatty eventually got another by him, making it 1-4, and decided to celebrate by getting a card for his tackling. He was not the only guilty party during this half, but he was one of the few punished for it. Grant fingered Ben for an apparently punishable tackle, and our fittest player was yellowed. Newmarket couldn't enjoy their advantage for long, however, as one of their players brutalised Ross. He couldn't avoid going. The game wasn't particularly noteworthy after these instances, and we retreated for a rather subdued teas.

MoM: Adam Mills (great goal and great performance)

DoD: Ben Smith (weak waft and accidentally abusing some pensioners)

#AnalogueNicotine #UncomfortablePlaylist #TaxTalk

Match details

Match date

Sat 19 Oct 2024

Kickoff

13:00

Competition

East Men's Division 2 North West

League position

4
Kettering
7
Newmarket 1
Team overview
Further reading

Team Sponsors

IT Support - TCS Consultancy Services
Junior Academy Sponsor - TGI Hockey