COWHC Men's 3s vs Sunbury and Walton Hawks Men's 5s - 07 November 2015

In previous years a typical 3s game would involve coffee & TV in the morning, match and then cigarettes and alcohol afterwards (although some might say Speddo does his best to keep elements of this alive!).

But this is 2015 and little by little COWHC3s version 2.0 is taking shape.

The temperature might have been mild, but it was a grey, wet November afternoon with not a songbird in sight. Skipper Cleashy had run out of time in his bid to get fit for the match, but was turned out to offer his support like the top man and captain he is.

Incredibly we still had 14 players available and Hutch gathered us around like Mr Robinson's Qango for a pre-match warm up. We started the match like a force of nature, snapping into tackles and moving the ball at almost supersonic pace! The spine of Hoops, Steelers and Hutch controlling the game superbly allowing Adam, Will and Dav in particular to run off them and strike fear into the Sunbury defence.

The first goal arrived early on, Chris winning a free hit on the edge of our 23. A few quick passes through the middle of the park later and the blonde centre forward received the ball on the edge of the D and buried it in the corner. Shortly afterwards it was 2-0, with Hutch dispatching a short corner like the shock of the lightning, giving the keeper no chance. And within 15 minutes of the start we were at 3-0, the voluptuous one again showing is the virtue of the early shot.

Admittedly we did slow down a bit after that, and Sunbury began to get some measure of possession and did cause us one or two minor issues at the back, not least when Chris found himself half the world away from his supposed position of right back, although I still made it from the left wing in time to put a challenge in. And speaking of challenges, one 50/50 between Adam and an opposition forward left the latter probably wishing there was an ambulance on the sideline as he landed very heavily on his hip.

The half-time chat was good, even though we were clearly in the ascendency the call was not to acquiesce and fade away, but to go out, press high and play to the end.

This we did to great success, although the first few minutes were quite even, the balance was probably slightly in our favour. Goal number 4 came actually as a result of Chris perhaps pushing too high (whatever others may think, I was enacting the half time instructions!), but his pressure on an opposition defender led to him winning the ball and feeding it to the blonde centre forward who, despite falling down, still buried his shot from the edge of the D.

Sunbury, despite having a bad day, never let their heads drop and on a couple of occasions Chalky (for a one time appearance in goal rather than sitting at home in his rockin' chair) was called into action. But we kept it solid at the back, kept the passes and runs coming and the blonde one got his fourth goal in similar fashion to his other 3.

And then came the goal of the game. A sweeping move from the back cut the opposition to ribbons and the ball arrived with Dav on the right side of the D. Watching at the back it was a bit of a case of I hope, I think... I know he'll score as he controlled the ball and sent it back across the keeper and into the far corner.

There was still time for one more goal from POM Will, who would have finished another flowing move had he not been taken out by a defender just as he was lining up his shot. But he got up, brushed himself down and fired in the P-flick with aplomb.

That still wasn't the final event of the game though, as not-so-little James proved momentum is a tough thing to stop when it gets going and, in chasing back to win the ball also, unfortunately, flattened the opposition player. Martin, perhaps relying a little on stereotypes, saw this as a green card offence (earning a certain centre-forward the DOD prize).

The end of the game it seemed couldn't come soon enough for the Sunbury captain, who called for 3 cheers with around a minute still left to play! When the final whistle did come, they may have walked off thinking "where did it all go wrong", but they can honestly take heart in the fact they never gave up.

We walked off with our heads up in the sky, the universal thought being there's no other way to make a wet Saturday feel somewhat better. And so it was that we headed off to our country house, or Whitgift Sports Club as it's more commonly known, for a very well earned pint or three.

And that, girls & boys, is almost that. It just remains for me to thank the two heros that were Martin and Nicky for umpiring in cloudburst after cloudburst.