COWHC Men's 3s vs Epsom Men's 5s - 04th February 2017

After last week's debacle I arrived at Croydon High for the match against Epsom wondering whether I would just be the waterboy for the week, running to the coffee shop for our illustrious skipper as punishment for costing 2 points against Sunbury.

So I was more than relieved when dP proved it was all water under the bridge by starting me at right back. The last time we had turned up at this pitch it was covered in frost so deep it looked like snow (hey oh, that's maybe a slight exaggeration, but still...). This week, the sun was shining and it was looking like a a lovely day to play hockey.

As our full squad began to arrive, it seemed the numbers were too many for one of the umpires taking charge of the game in place and he "asked" us to head to the otherside of the fence. This was actually a good excuse for us to start our warm up, so we went for a bit of road trippin and headed into the school grounds to stretch, jog and generally tire ourselves out before the match.

Epsom came at us hard out of the blocks, and it seemed like a parallel universe compared to the match at their place. However some solid defending be me and my friends in the D-unit restricted them to little more than 1/4 chances. Gradually we found our way to the higher ground and our passing and movement started to create problems for the opposition.

A couple of short corners were flicked by Bash, but well saved by the Epsom keeper and gradually the pressure told. Another short, another one slipped to Bash, who disguised it beautifully and instead of flicking just played the ball to the inrushing Jay who hump de bumped it into the net.

1 - 0 at half time showed us there was still work to do, and by the way Epsom were playing, we were going to have to perhaps taste the pain to see the match out.

The second half started with us keeping a lot of the ball and again chances were created. One superb run by Jay across the D saw him feign to shoot, before slipping the ball to Adam Cady to finish calmly. Adam then very nearly returned the favour when another run from Jay saw him just fail to get on the end of Adam's return pass.

Then goal 3 saw Adam get the assist the previous move deserved, when he played in Corny to fire home.

Going 3 down sparked Epsom into life and they began to give us trouble, the same as they had at the start of the match. Did someone in midfield give it away? I'm not sure, but they certainly didn't track back with the man they were supposed to mark, leaving us outnumbered in defence. The Epsom midfielder appeared in the D as if from behind the sun, and finished well past Phil.

The last 10 minutes of the game were, if not scrappy, perhaps a bit of a love rollercoaster. The play ebbed and flowed, and fortunately for us we finished with the upper hand when Jay finished reverse stick from a narrow angle.

4 - 1 the final score which, by the way, keeps us top of the league and towards the top of the scoring charts. Both great stats, but let's not get complacent boys, fight like a brave and keep pushing for those wins!

POM - Woj, who can't stop picking up votes
DOD - a 3 way split between Tom, Will and Hugo

Huge thanks to Nicky and Lena for umpiring, and to all of our cheerleaders on the sidelines