Posted by Captain Ben
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on 30/11/2008, 11:29 pm
90.216.16.220
Thame 3 - 1 Witney Wayfarers
29 Nov 09 Away at Thame
The Wayfarers Away fixture against the newly formed Thame, who's first league game of the season they won a staggering 25-0, was expected to be the toughest game of the season, and so it proved. As all new teams must start in league 8 and only the top 2 teams go up, the winning two teams have convincingly come 1st & 2nd in league 7 for the 3 seasons I've been at Witney. The Thame team we met today should have no difficulty winning a league a season for several years... To add insult to injury, the finely tuned team I had planned to have out dissipated over the course of the week through injury, illness, work and war, leaving all the teams struggling for players. It was quite a relief to turn up with 11 players in the end!
To be honest, we started with 10, but Verns quality footwear and slightly late arrival were rewarded with the Muppetry award... But thats another story! Thame started with some excellent passing; confident, accurate, quick and just what our 1st team have been trying to do... They were all 20-somethings with considerable hockey history - no hackers here! We had a strong defence, with the stalwarts of Mike Roberts & Geoff Saul bolstered with Neil Boyes and Coach Ian MacLachlan showing considerable skill in keeping the initial charge at bay. A couple of excellent saves fron the injured James Bartrip, who started under the influence of much Brufen and padding around damaged ribs from last week, also kept them in check. We settled into a Wayfarers passing game, with some excellent end-to-end hockey which got them worried. A fabulous goal deflected by the Thame Captain opened the scoring and was followed with a more scrappy Thame 2nd. Not wishing to be outdone, we managed our own response from Captain Ben, leaving us 2-1 down at half time and feeling pretty pleased with ourselves.
Insirational team-talk at half time from all players bolstered the energies of our midfield, giving Wayfarers Tony Brown, Vern Kay, Owen Collins (last minute addition who played very well) and Jake Crowley the confidence to be dominent for several periods of the half. Kaka Ben & Captain Ben worked well tgether up front, with some nice passing that was only marred by the tsunami of defenders that swamped them. In the end, Thame got another excellent goal from open play that reflected fairly the teams.
Wayfarers left the field in jubilant mood. We had played some exceelent hockey and were well pleased with our performance. The man-of-the-match nominations were for 7 different players, with 5 sharing the top spot of 2 votes each; rightly so, we all gave 100% and were beaten but an exceptional side. Well Done Wayfarers!
TEAM: James Bartrip (GK), Mike Roberts, Geoff Saul, Neil Boyes, Ian Maclachlan, Tony Brown, Vern Kay, Owen Collins, Jake Crowley, Ben (KaKa) Carrol, Ben Campion (1)
MUPPETRY AWARD; Vern Kay for forgetting his astro trainers and arriving late
MAN OF THE MATCH: Shared between: James Bartrip, Mike Roberts, Ian MacLachlan, Tony Brown & Jake Crowley... (If you can't give them 5 points each on Fantastar, The Captains casting vote went to the Goal Keeper, James BArtrip, for some outstanding groundwork...)
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