Match Report by Alex Christie

M4 1 – 5 H&W M4

After a very solid start to the season the men’s 4s rocked up to Mill Hill school with high hopes, after narrowly missing out on securing 3 points the week before, we arrived believing this would be our week to finally get a result different to a 1-1 draw.

After a “short” Alastair Whatley warmup, running up and down the hill at mill hill we were sufficiently warm and ready to hit the pitch. Southgate had PB. A solid few minutes from the 4s having a few chances, but ultimately H&W secured the first PC of the game. Good running on the first short rattling into the number 1 runners shin pad. The re-award was mis-trapped and the stopper drove round to the baseline, the number 1 runner (myself) was deemed to have been pushing in the back so another re-award and a green card. On the 3 rd attempt a solid flick down low to the left post past the GK. 1-0 to H&W. After the restart the 4s fought back well, winning a short of their own, but it came to nothing. The 4s had a few more minutes of very solid and promising attack with good moves and shots on target but the H&W keeper wouldn’t let anything through. Then after a few more solid phases of play; Tadhg attacked the top of the D and a solid push into the goal.

However, the umpire had deemed Tadhg to not be in the D, a controversial call. Momentum then shifted back to H&W with attack after attack and more corners, but GK Sam wouldn’t let anything through – including a shot from their unmarked centre forward from 3 yards out with his stick. But eventually a good ball through and a nice finish meant that it was 2-0 at the end of the half.

At the start of the 2 nd half H&W came out strong but first major chance would fall the way of the 4s. Another solid run from Tadhg drew the penalty stroke. Lik who was confident stood up. After the game he claimed he scores penalty strokes 9 times out of 10, it was a shame that this was number 10. Going at a mid-height to the keepers right which was saved on to the post. After this, all momentum had shifted away from the gate who were beginning to struggle now. H&W came charging down the left-hand side and put a back hand across goal which was deflected off Captain Scotty’s stick into the near post, and a short corner? After a discussion with the other umpire, a goal? The Gate were perplexed at this decision with Scott protesting the fact that the ball was dangerous and not on target. However, the ball being outside of the D was something more prevalent that we should asked about. 3-0. Fuelled by the frustration of some contentious calls the 4s tried to fight back but H&W were all over us. After some back and forth the gate got an
opportunity in front of goal and finally Tom was able to slap the ball through the keeper who had been outstanding throughout. 3-1. We finally felt we had a chance to try and scrape a result from the game, the hope was shorted lived. After some more sustained pressure I got the ball on the right-side line and looking for support played the ball back towards the top of the D, where I thought I saw a red shirt. With my eyes looking almost directly into the sun I thought it was a great ball, but the closer it got to the player the shirt became whiter and whiter. A dreadful ball to the opposition forward at the top of the D. They drove around wide and played a ball across the face of the goal where a tap in scored their 4 th goal. 4-1. In the final few minutes we threw as many players forward as possible and against the high press caused issues for David who tried to play a ball across the face of the goal which was picked by the pressing centre forward and a nice backhand into the top right corner to score their 5 th and final goal. 5-1.

The last 2 goals summarise the game perfectly, a comedy of errors, too many individual mistakes. And without some contentious calls for their first few goals we felt we might’ve been able to get something out of the game. But ultimately, we were out played by a very organised and strong H&W 4s team.

We now look to next week at home against Wanderers, where we can hopefully get back on track.