A hotch-potch of players young and old were thrown together as this weekend’s Tankards squad. Most of us didn’t know each other, yet we instantly gelled into a formidable unit to win a fine victory against a competent, though rather less mobile, opposition.

Oli Y (P-flick) and Fin gave us the comfort of a 2-0 lead at half-time, and the team talk was easy: “Don’t change a thing, and let’s keep enjoying ourselves!” Two further open play goals from Alex and Zac, with only a minor indiscretion in our D leading to a well-taken P-flick from WGC, made it a solid 4-1 outcome. Much more importantly, we all came away happy we’d given our all, worked hard for each other, and showcased what we could do with willing players around us. 

As we didn’t have a Man of the Match vote, your correspondent is taking the liberty of giving a mention in dispatches to rock-solid James who with Kieran and Luke gave us a platform for our youngsters to spring out through the midfield and forward lines; and I’m making Zac MOTM for a hugely impressive and mature performance at centre-half, being involved in so much of what we did that was good, and capping it off with a well placed goal.

P.S. I want to give a special thanks to each one of our squad for the spirit in which the match was played. WGC’s goalie was injured so they turned up with only outfield players. All our players didn’t hesitate in accepting my suggestion that we’d approach our action in their D more like training to keep things safe – pass the ball into the goal, no lifting at goal, no direct shots at short corners. This made our task much more challenging, especially as we had to pick our way through their packed D, and we would undoubtedly have had many more shots and likely more goals if we’d taken a different approach. So huge credit to all (and the umpires) for making it a match well worth playing – WGC have left us knowing we’re a great club to visit!