COWHC Men's 3s vs Cranleigh Men's 1s - 14th Oct 2017

Saturday dawn's and as the sunrise hits the horizon COW M3s are found dressed, ready and at the clubhouse for an 9am meeting time. It also found Indy who hadn't yet been to bed having been out all night with Raj, awarding Indy the instant DoD for the day.

Talking with AJ and Scotty earlier in the week the general consensus was they were a highly skilled, high tempo team with 4 rolling subs. This will be a real character test for the M3s who only had 1 sub.

With our early start we find we are also the first to the pitch for the team talk and warm up. Spirits were high and we all knew we were in for the game of our lives.

Whistle blows and within two minutes we have been dispossessed and some frankly amazing passing and control finds Cranleigh firing a stinging shot across and just wide of the goal. How the hell did that happen?

COWs quickly rally and Hutch, with his preseason four 1h runs a week, finds him past the half way line! He collects the pass near the top of the centre circle and transforms into his youthful 21 year-old self again. He weaves and he wriggles past 5 of the Cranleigh players to find 3 more in front of him. Experience pays off, unperturbed, Hutch slips the ball to a waiting Indy who somehow isn't sleep, and sweeps the ball into goal. 1-0 COWs and Cranleigh find they are losing for the first time in 2 years! The upset is real!!

For the next 20 minutes both sides battle it out in a high tempo high press game with both sides in an even tussle and both realising the game is for anyone. Cranleigh are rolling subs and Croydon are pulling on slightly more youthful energy reserves to make up for our lack thereof.

About 25 minutes in and Hutch tackles on the edge of our D, plays into onto the players back foot while they are still trying to work out how it happened. The ball bounces back in front of the player who drives into the D to strikes a brilliant shot that streaks across the goal into the far corner. Croydon set for a hit, but find a goal is awarded by their umpire. Shock and obvious dismay sweeps the team but we regroup and push on again attacking and causing issues for Cranleigh.

With a few minutes remaining the lack of subs starts to tell as Cranleigh break through the midfield with No. 30 starting on their 23, going around 5 players before finishing the brilliant solo effort with a wonder strike. Wow! Perhaps our 1s need another midfielder?

Half time and Croydon are disappointed to be 2-1 down. The talk is to keep intensity up, play to the whistle, recycle the ball, and get short corners!

5 minutes into an even tussle between two great teams. What ensued next was one of the most bizarre situations in hockey history. Jenks, returning having filled a water bottle, was waiting patiently for play to pass before moving back to the dug out. The umpire seeing Jenks is not in the dugout blows him up and tries to kick him out of the cage again. I would like to point out that Jenks has been correcting this umpire all morning by telling him which rules were no longer rules and by helping him see what actually happened. The umpire, taking umbrage at Jenks, stops play and tells him to get out the cage, Jenks states he is our coach and that he is returning to the dugout having gotten water and is not in the line of play while waiting for it to move back up the pitch before moving around. Umpire begrudgingly waves him to the dugout while time is stopped. Jenks, at the ripe age of 40 (with 30 years of experience), moves as "quickly" as he can, from the goal to the halfway line. This took over 5 minutes buying us much needed breather and frustrating Cranleigh. Baller!

Play restarts and Croydon are back on it, Cranleigh are getting nervous that their slim lead will be reduced as this battle of the giants continues to play out. Some hard tackles and shoulders were being deployed along with a heavy press by an exceptionally well drilled Cranleigh. But we were still able to work our way forward with some excellent 1-2 passing between Harvs, Jaideep, Ben Burke, Cocksy, and Lewis Testa all of whom were putting in excellent performances. Time and again we get to their D to find 6 players in it and 3 around the ball carrier not letting us see any real chance at goal. Our one major chance came when we got to their front post and 3 players dive in taking ball and player with them. Short is given but Cranleigh again are composed and manage to save a brilliant piece of work.

With 20 minutes of play left, Ben Burke was bundled over having skinned a couple of players for the 100th time, only this time Ben didn't get up. His ankle being the problem and later confirmed as ligament strain sidelining him for 2-3 weeks. This is a big blow.

With no more subs and losing one of our best players Croydon find their legs and defensive ability truly tested. Harvs gets given a green card after a player backed into him "dangerous". Now we we are down to 10 men.

Some outstanding work by Keith Cocks, Hutch, dP, Woj, and Brooksy we weather the storm until a short corner is given after their No.30 is dispossessed on the edge of the D "obstruction by channelling from behind", impressive as I was despite being goal side and side by side with the player getting a clean tackle. Cranleigh have three shorts in a row as they trot out great routines that have kept us guessing each time. Third time luck and they score after scrappy play leads to a ball across the goal for a tap in, 3-1.

Our legs tire and with the match in the dying minutes another obvious foul, everyone including the oppo stop, as the ball is crashed in past the stand still players for the right half to touch in. Umpire gives the goal despite some Cranleigh players correcting him. Apologies for their umpire and coach are muttered by the attackers but goal still given.

Whistle blows. 4-1 loss the final result but not reflective of a very tight game which stretched both teams and what an epic battle! I cant wait for the return fixture and having some subs!

Thank you Lena for umpiring, god knows what would have happened if we had to have two Cranleigh umpires.