New Season, New Changes

And so once again we have another season. Cricket now over for 7-8 months we now have the hockey season. Biddle stepped down as captain and the old and experienced Bacon comes up to take his place. Last time he captained he didn’t have the technology we now have today. I wonder how many games he did win as captain back then? The new season also brings new players. Andy, Josh, Dan and Tommy all caught the eye at the Cricket Club V Hockey Club match and were taken advantage of, as well as gaining Ben Tiller from the Isle of Wight. Also the old heads, such as Chipfat, Fisher, Bacon, Summit etc, decided to stay another season.

So our first league game of the season came up against Sanderstead 4’s at home. We tried the new guys in their positions and fitted the regulars round them. Andy had a few quick runs down the right and was mainly running everywhere (that’s good), Josh made a name for him self by tackling hard at the back instead of looking like a brick wall (you know who you are!), Dan also had some good moves on the right and Ben took up the position of left back, which had suddenly become more dynamic! So the more experienced left back went to look for a position somewhere else.

Unfortunately though it wasn’t the start we had wished for. They scored their first off a short corner but Josh was getting under their skin as he was becoming a useful defender. Their second was a slightly more painful let in. The captain stopped the ball on the line with his body and therefore gave away a P-Flick. He still had the mark two weeks later! Unfortunately that went in as well but there was no blame attached to Derek. We pulled one back in the second half from a short. Sumit pushed out and when it was hit, the ball rebounded back to him where he finished it off - bashed into almost an open goal. Later on in that half they once again scored from a short but the game was well played. We were mixing around with the team and it will only be a matter of time before we win a game. Well played by everyone though not just the new members.

[Ed: Thanks to View from the left for the match report ]