The scene is: Saturday afternoon 15.00 PB, prime time, under the lights and a good turn out on the balcony. We were playing Richmond 2s who are sitting in 1st place. They had everything to lose while we had everything to win…. game on.

In the first 10 minutes Richmond showed us exactly why they were on top of the table. Richmond moved the ball around wonderfully and played some lovely balls down the line finding their attackers occasionally and beginning to really threaten us. This made Ivan think that the next ball that came down the line he should dive for… bad idea. In the process of diving Ivan managed to get in the way of a much faster Jup. This resulting in Jup taking off and flying for a few feet.

The rest of the first half was nothing too special. Richmond scored two and we slowly crept towards playing some hockey that may compete with the oppo.

We scored our first goal within minutes of the second half having started. Will Wright made a run assertive run around the right back, then drove baseline and put the ball across the goal to Lucca on post!! 1-2

They scored a goal not shortly after from a short corner. This was not going to hinder our growing desire for a win. We bounced back not five minutes later with our second goal scored by Mitch on back post. 2-3

We  now had the momentum with us and Richmond were beginning to lose their heads. Come on the Gate!

However, this was not enough to deter Richmond as they scored a goal on the counter shortly after. 2-4 We were still in it with three short corners in quick succession. Ivan went with a straight drag for the first and unfortunately it was very straight. Next short corner went slip left to Lucas and never managed to get a shot away, but did win another short. Shortie number three went slip right to Mitch, who managed to get a slap away, but was not good enough to bag him a brace.

We scored our third goal from a wonderful reverse, courtesy of Will Wright.3-4 and 10 minutes to play. With the Gate all over Richmond it was only a matter of time before we scored the equaliser and in step the nerves of Richmond showing themselves with their first card, shortly followed by another and then by another…. Now with a three man advantage we had to scored and unfortunately everyone wanted to be the hero and score the equaliser. Instead of playing that amazing hockey we had been playing for the last 30 minutes we decided to abandon this. We did not manage to make use of the numerical advantage and with two of their men back on the pitch they scored their fifth goal and the final eight goal of a thrilling game.

MOM: Veysel Demir, kept us in the game with a strong of big saves and assertive communication
DOD: Ivan, in future don’t take out your teammate