COWHC Men's 4s vs NPL Bees - 28th Oct 2017

The setting - a windswept astro pitch in deepest, darkest Croydon.
The cast - a rag-tag bunch of hockey players

Following the previous installment of SOHL Div 3 - Massacre in Surbiton, our brave heros assembled pitch-side ready to do battle once more. Surely this week would not leave us with so many nightmares.

As our brave heros counted down towards pushback, broken-man Scott questions Adam "Skip" Williams.

"I take it Ciaran's on his way?" referring to last weekend's man-of-the-moment, lionheart keeper.

"Yes, I'm sure of it." Replies Skip, checking his phone. "Or maybe not... he actually told me a couple of weeks ago he couldn't make this game."

A shiver runs down the squad's back. We'd barely managed to scrape together 12 survivors from last week, what were we going to do without a keeper!

"Don't worry lads, I have a cunning plan..." says Skip, turning to young Joe Hyatt, fresh from having played the previous game. "Joe, we have the kit, could you step in for us?"

A look of dread crosses Joe's face. He knows full well what happens in these kind of stories to people who agree to a last minute change of plans. But pride in the club takes over and bravely/ foolishly (delete as appropriate), he agrees to do his duty and become potential cannon fodder.

Crisis averted, the team line up and realise that our back 4 contains both a Killer and a Slayer - an auspicious sign surely.

The match starts and the 4s are soon on the front foot. We're putting the opposition under pressure and playing some wonderful passing hockey. Sure, it's not all our way and Joe pulls of a save and clearance or two, while Chris gets a block in on a short corner (interestingly given all the way from the other end of the pitch...) But the signs are promising, if only we could find that killer blow.

And then it comes - we win a short in the second half, Skip strikes and Max, with a backflip that his namesake Whitlock would be proud of, scoops the ball into the net. 1 - 0!

NPL keep coming, but they break on the rock of the COWs defence. We keep battering away at their goal, as we have been all match, but can't convert.

And then... last minute of the game, the opposition break in numbers and win a short corner. After some controversy over the time keeping, they take it.

It's scrappy.

It goes to the right.

There's a scuffed shot.

It squeezes through young Joe's legs and NPL are level with the last hit of the game!

1 - 1 the final score, and the 4s feeling quite literally gutted.

Not all horror sequels are as bad as the original, but this one showed that some Bees have a killer sting in the tail...

Thanks to Ollie for umpiring.