Another fine turn out for the Bar Mixed Hockey team this week, including some regular star performers, and one or two newbies to mixed hockey. Mr James Orr (mixed hockey newbie) graced the team with his presence, and was clearly still on a high after winning an abundance of trophies at the end of season awards. Asked what he'd done with all the "silverware", James reported that he's had to put up a new shelf!

Several different styles of pre-match warm up this week. Yours truly went for the basic stretch exercises followed by ball transfers with other players, while the goal hungry forwards stood round the D and fired shots at our celebrity goal keeper Akshay "Doc" Kumar (another summer league newbie). The Vets arrived, led by Clare Parker with her boom box on full volume and danced their way onto the pitch... and James prepared with …ahem… a crafty smoke - sort it out James!

With a strong turn out and a few recent wins under our belts, great things were expected!

Team captain Lorraine Paul gave a morale boosting team talk and then organised players into positions in 30 seconds flat, as umpire Alan Field was very keen to start on time!

Push back...
The game ebbed and flowed, up, down and across the pitch at a fast pace. St Albans initially looked more structured in terms of playing style, with players holding position and the ball doing much of the work as it was transferred around - very nice to watch! Bar doggedly competed for the ball, out-pacing the St Albans players in several areas and demonstrating some excellent skills as the ball was intercepted and then moved around by Bar players. It was good to see lots of supporting play, and players communicating well.

As regular readers of these reports will know, the Mixed Hockey Team like to lull the opposition into a false sense of security by conceding a goal or two, then recovering composure and seeking a match win. This week was no exception, and St Albans went ahead after about 20 minutes.
SAHC 1 PBHC 0

Some excellent individual efforts and team plays resulted in several near misses; balls travelled across the face of the St Albans goal but failed to be converted. Frustratingly it was looking like a repeat of last week, as the ball refused to cross the oppo's goal line.

Eventually, Sam Penn decided he'd had enough of being a goal down and with a fantastic individual effort he charged the St Albans goal and levelled the score.
SAHC 1 PBHC 1

Always competitive, Clare Parker made her mark by adding another goal from a short corner. Rules of this league dictate the first strike from a short corner must be taken by a lady, so it's great to have Clare on the team! A competent goal-scoring lady is a definite advantage over other teams in the competition.
SAHC 1 PBHC 2

Early in the second half Richard "Rich" Laverick-Brown decided he wasn't going to be outdone and sneaked goal number 3 for Bar. Another cracking goal, having been set up by some neat midfield interplay. Bar were firing on all cylinders!
SAHC 1 PBHC 3

With a comfortable goal margin Bar became more confident and pressed St Albans hard. George "G-Mac" McCormick was the next Bar player to line up a goal, slotting the ball past the opposition keeper with ease.
SAHC 1 PBHC 4

As the game progressed "G-Mac” was everywhere… George demonstrated fitness, speed and skill as he got back to defend, and seconds later was at the other end of the pitch to support or line up goal attempts. A very impressive effort!

St Albans began to tire and adopted a "long ball" playing strategy, otherwise known as "hit and hope". While many of their players were back defending the SA goal, a couple of talented players took up high positions and acted as targets for any outbound balls.
The law of averages says eventually one of the long balls will find the target player, and said player will do something useful.
Sure enough St Albans eventually found their opportunity and scored an unremarkable goal.
SAHC 2 PBHC 4

The game flowed faster and faster as it progressed, and Bar were still hungry for goals.
Another short corner came for Bar after a speedy attack into the St Albans D and a foot foul by their overworked defence.
Step up Clare Parker, again... another goal!
SAHC 2 PBHC 5

Due to the intensity of the Bar attack throughout the match, most of the play was in the St Albans half, leaving keeper Akshay "Doc" Kumar looking very lonely in the Bar goal.

St Albans rallied towards the end and tried desperately to get more goals. Fortunately for Bar, Doc had stayed alert in his lonely goal area and was able to make a couple of excellent saves in the last few minutes before the whistle.

Final mentions for this week -
Man of the match – George McCormick
Most improved player – Sam Lemmon
Most competitive player – Clare Parker
Most friendly player – Sam Penn
Best individual goal – Sam Penn
Best support play – Katy Francis
Best interception – Rich Laverick-Brown
Best hit out – George Wickham
Best cross-pitch transfer – Lorraine Paul
Best tackle – Jo Williams
Best aerial skills – James Orr
Best goalie – Akshay “Doc” Kumar
Best match write up – Graham Paul :-)
Best Umpire – Alan Field

Well done Team!

Go Bar!