COWHC Men's 3s vs Sanderstead Men's 2s - 01st April 2017

April arrives and, while the season should have been done dusted - and indeed the championship is safely ours - there is the small matter of 2 rearranged matches to get through.

And so April Fool's Day began to a flurry of WhatsApp messages, many wishing Brooksy all the best for wedding that afternoon, others wondering whether Corny was trying to mystify us all with a picture of a ring and the words "she said yes". Given the date, we really did believe it was the devil inside him posting that, but turns out it was true. Hearty congratulations went to both!

Croydon High was not exactly bathed in sunshine, but underneath the colours of black and white clouds, bits of blue sky, and some sun we started. Local derbies are always tense affairs, and while we did listen like thieves to dPs wise words at the warm up, we started slowly and allowed Sanderstead to get at us.

Possession was lost to easily, tackles were a bit weak, but our commitment didn't disappear. We scored first, I think through Mulley, but without him by my side in the clubhouse after the game talking me through it, I'm afraid the details are vague.

But still things remained scrappy, so what you need at a time like this is not a suicide blonde but a man with a confused nationality - is he an Aussie, is he a Scot? It doesn't matter, because after a long corner was played into the D by me, the ball rebounded to Keith on the top of the D who fired home his first goal of the season!

2 - 0 at half time, but we were far from dancing on the jetty. There was still the chance for some of the oppo's stronger players to get them into the game.

We played some good hockey during the second half. Ben Burke's harrying and chasing causing Sanderstead some particular problems. It still wasn't as fluent as we can usually play, but goal 3 arrived following some good work down the right by yours truly led to the ball reaching Guy in the D. His first effort was well saved, but he calmly tucked it away at the second time of asking.

Goal 4 was created by Ben's tenacity and speed on the break, before he fed Dav to finish off.

There was a bit of niggle still happening, particularly when one of the Sanderstead players took exception to Woj doing his job. Woj's response was along the lines of "baby don't cry", which led to a bit of pushing and shoving, fortunately soon calmed down though.

And so we responded in best way possible, by scoring again - this time Will getting himself on the scoresheet.

And on a weekend of new sensations for Corny, he was allowed to have his first run out in defence for quite some time... and showed why he should remain up front. In your own D you don't lose your head, and yet he committed the original sin, got caught in possession and gave away a short corner. Sanderstead's 3 "stand out" players were all involved in what was a very good drag flick routine, and hence scored.

There was not enough time for them to get back into it, but there was for Woj to get himself a green card. A slightly robust challenge against him did get a free hit, but his reaction saw the umpire brandish the card and tell him to just keep walking.

But it's the oppo tasting the bitter tears of defeat as we look forward to our final match with Goan and then pushing onwards and upwards to Div 2 next season.

POM was Ben for a superb all round display
DOD was Corny for giving the oppo the gift of a goal.

Thanks to AJ for umpiring and for all of our cheerleaders on the sideline - particularly our fellow champions from the M4s