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Match Report
from Chris Edwards / Chris Wood...
Let the games begin...on a showery day at 'Owens', Bar narrowly lost a
closely fought opening season match 3-2 against Bishops Stortford (BS).
Bar were missing a few "old" faces - Andy Bye, Adam Reader,
Adam Pigden, Terry Mabbett, Dave Frame, Liam Frame (not so old), Spencer
Hunt and Nick Gregory but made up for it by drafting 4 "young"
new faces into the side. Daniel Adams, in his first ever game of
hockey showed promising signs, controlling the ball well and laying it
off calmly as well as closely marking the BS left wing. Marc Collier,
Matt Sheldon and Miles Mitchell all play hockey for their school but had
a free couple of hours on Saturday to help us out and inject a bit of
pace into the midfield and attack. All three played extremely well with
both Matt and Miles creating good chances in the closing stages and Marc
working hard in the midfield throughout the game.
However, it was BS who started the better with early pressure paying off
after 8 mins to put Bar 1-0 down. Bar quickly started to improve, began
to shake off the excesses of their summer vacation, and scored a superb
equaliser which was well slotted home by the ever reliable Andy Latham
from an excellent pass by Chris Wood.
Bar nearly conceded a 2nd goal late in the first half but a fine initial
save from Alan Field held the ball up resulting in a goal mouth scramble,
before Toby Seaman cleared the ball from the goal line. Bar had a couple
of half chances at the other end, but couldn't convert and went in at
half time with the score at 1-1.
Very soon after
the break Bar were caught napping and went 2-1 down, but this seemed to
galvanise the Bar and indeed Owen equalised midway through the second
half. Unfortunately BS were always capable of mounting dangerous attacks
and went ahead with what can only be described as a 'screamer' from a
shot just inside the right side of the 'D' which flew into the top corner
- unstoppable Alan? - I think so.
After this,
Bar applied almost constant pressure and caught BS on the break 3 or 4
times in the final 5-10 minutes, but despite the numerous chances none
was forthcoming. Ultimately, Bar went down 3-2 in a game in which both
sides had periods of sustained pressure and bearing in mind that BS finished
3rd in the division last season it was a creditable first performance.
Mentioned in
dispatches - Alan Field/Danny Becker/Chris Wood and Andy Latham
Man of the Day - Danny Becker.
Team: Alan Field, Cliff Hawkins, Danny Becker, Richard
Atkins, Toby Seaman, Paul Brady, Chris Wood (Capt), Marc Collier, Owen
Hughes, Andy Latham, Matt Sheldon, Daniel Adams, Miles Mitchell, Chris
Edwards
PB Umpires: Chris Edwards and Cliff Hawkins
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