COWHC Men's 3s vs Old Cranleighans Men's 4s - 18th Nov 2017

It was a wet and gloomy Saturday morning for hockey. Meet time was 10:30 with only the Chatwal contingent saying they would be late before hand. Well turned out they were late for being late and so found themselves benched to start with.

It was a positive start for COWs with some brilliant passing play from midfield to the forwards. Steelers, Ben Ellis, Burke in particular linking us really well to create a few early chances that somehow couldn't be converted.

10 minutes roll by and the look of dispondancy from the bench was too much for the soft hearted captain and he called on team Chatwal to get on the pitch. The impact was immediate. With a great intercept from the back a quick ball to Steelers was shipped to burke. Burke slipped to Pads, Pads to Indy who coolly ran along the top of the D and reversed it bottom corner. 1-0 COWs. The tactical genius of the captain in benching the ChatAttack cannot be overstated here and this is one of 3 goals to come from it.

Then the gloomy weather got to us, our effort levels dropped 5% and we found ourselves on the back foot. A well taken broken down short from OCs saw them draw level, 1-1. Then disaster, another goal, this time from open play and a goal line scramble that couldn't quite be cleared. 2-1 down going into half time.

Effort was the main focus of the talk and Steelers put in a rallying cry of passion that energised the team.

Second half saw a different team re-enter the pitch. Within 5 minutes a lovely incising passage of play. Again Steelers being instrumental passed to Burke on the far right, who had all the time in the world to pass to Indy in the middle, miracles do happen and Indy ran to the right of the D then slipped it left to Raj for him to slot home. 2-2.

The final goal came in identical fashion, Steelers slipped to Ben, Ben out to Pads, Pads square ball across the D to Indy who slotted it home.

More goals could have come our way but alas scoring 4 (3 by Indy, 1 by Steelers) after the whistle had blown doesn't count so the game ended 3-2.

Well done to OCs for giving us such a great fun and friendly game, always a pleasure playing them.

Thank you to Jack and Nicky for umpiring.

And thank you to the ChatAttack for scoring but also picking up DoD for; being later than late; scoring more after the whistle than during play, and "I've already won PoM" before the game even started.

MOM went to a very deserving Steelers for an all round great performance that shows his true class and quality.

ChatAttack Stats:
Indy 2 goals, 1 assist
Raj 1 goal
Pads 2 assists