COWHC Men's 4s vs Chertsey Thames Valley Men's 2s - 25th Nov 2017

It was a cold and frosty morning when the intrepid 4s set off on their journey to top of the table Chertsey Thames Valley. The drop in temperature compared to the previous week held no fear for us, however the traffic on the way to the game did mean the mighty (?) trio of Ross, Dave and Chris ended up arriving just prior to push back. This wouldn't normally have been so much of an issue, had it not been for the fact that the keeper's kit was in Ross' car and Ciaran was sat waiting on the sidelines for it!

However the oppo were still waiting for one umpire to arrive (thanks to them for providing both!), so we had just enough time for everyone to make their final preparations and for Ciaran to get kitted up.

CTV were full of youngsters, particularly up front and through the middle, however a solid backline of James, Chris, Max and John, aided by Dave at the bottom of the diamond, kept them at bay. On the odd occasion they got through Ciaran made full use of his kit, pulling of some good saves including one, I'm sure, with his head.

COWs were also making the opposition defence earn their keep with some good movement, but at half time neither team had found the breakthrough. 0 - 0

The second half followed a similar pattern, both sides knocking on the door but unable to find their way through. Until Lewis made a darting run from right back into the middle. Showing more determination than the player following him, he first intercepted the ball and then broke through into the opposition half. After he released the ball towards their D I'm afraid I can't remember what happened, however the good news is Karl was on hand to put the ball into the back of the net.

1 - 0 COWs! And we were more than good value for the lead.

The game then became quite stretched as CTV pressed for an equaliser. Our defence held firm and we were still creating problems for them on the counter attack. Killer, Lewis, Jack and James all using their pace to great effect.

And then the sucker punch. From a clearance one of the CTV youngsters found himself in the clear through the middle. With a burst of speed he managed to evade the covering James to find himself one on one with Ciaran. Despite Ciaran's best efforts the youngster finished well and we were back to all square.

Back to level pegging with not long left.

Both teams tried for a winner, but in the end time defeated both.

A draw was probably a fair result, but more performances like this from us and we'll be troubling every team in the league.

POM was Lewis