Men's 2nd XI Vs West Bridgford 5

SNHC 2s vs WB 5s. 

A beautiful sunny day greeted a more mature lineup of South 2s to face an aggressive looking WB team.  

A brief warmup and succinct chat from the skipper and it was game on.  Umpires Mr Batty and Mr Wallace looked at their watches and with a nod we were off.  Balls fizzed between the South players and the WB rabble, stick tackles were flying everywhere but it was South who capitalised first with a quick ball into the D finding Stevie Fire-pants who managed beat the huge WB keeper 1-0. 

WB pressed hard after the restart with a flurry of passes beating the South midfield and putting our defence under pressure; unfortunately a missed tackle from the usually stalwart Mr Willey gave the WB skipper a free shot at the top of the D, beating keeper Alex who managed to get his little toe to it but couldn’t keep it out.  1-1.  

So this is where my recollection of the first half gets fuzzy as I had to have a small “comfort break” but I think Alex scored a flick from a shorty and Toby worked in an excellent solo goal.  

2nd half began with a much more settled South side, the marking had tightened up, in the middle Gary and Ben stopping the WB young guns, giving our wings Robbie and Stevie the opportunity to attack the veteran WB defence, any WB attacks were kept out by Brian’s flat stick but his hefted ariels couldn’t find Alex Caravan and Toby Clough, but it was the skipper who stepped up to keep the score rolling. Snatching a rebound and then managing to get on the end of one of Brian’s scorching hits to go 1 on 1 with the WB keeper and with the grace of a charging Rhino he dummied the prone padded gentleman to hit the backboard making it 5-2.  Unfortunately the skipper sullied his perfect game with what can be only described as a brutal attack on a minor who had refused to back off a free hit, this found him sitting on the bench for 2 minutes.   
WB kept attacking but the fire had definitely been snuffed out from South’s fine hoses. Great composure from Mark Roe and some fine stick work from Ben Walker made sure WB didn’t gain any advantage and as the final minutes passed South kept possession smothering the embers of any WB attacks.

Special mention to Robbie who played out of his skin with composure and silky skills showing how much he has progressed this season.

Thank you to Mr Batty and Mr Wallace for umpiring.  

Final score 5-1 keeping us safe in 4th spot in the league with only an evening game against Boots to finish the season next week.