Six of the best

Meeting our illustrious leader on the way to the pitch I was saddened to learn that several of our heroes from the previous week, especially our highly rated new centre back, had earned a promotion to the firsts. We were blessed with a couple of new personnel but were certainly going to have to adjust our game from what had been a winning formula the week before.

After our 4 minute warm up the previous week we found ourselves in the positively luxurious position of having a full 30 minutes to prepare. Dan took the warm up and if anything we were slightly overdone by the end of his very thorough set of drills. We did the 4 cone shooting thing and everything seems to be flowing quite nicely as we prepared for the off.

Following on from Dan's "ball based press tutorial" the press continued to cause our oppo trouble and it was not long before the pressure started to mount... Justin had the left back in all sorts of trouble before he kicked the ball back to the Swindon defender. Having regained possession immediately it was felt that the necessary advantage had been given and so the ball was retrieved, driven into the D and clinically finished by the aforementioned attacker. A great goal, frustrated opposition and an excellent start to open the account with less than 5 minutes played.

The first half saw pressure mounting for Swindon with our highly effective press forcing errors and we were camped in their half for much of the first period. Justin nicked another goal after some super forward play involving Adam, Chris and Dan. The highlight of the half was when our on loan centre midfielder, Matt Osbourne, went on a delightful little wobble before strolling into the D and nonchalantly reverse striking the ball into the top left corner. There was a much easier route to goal with a slip left to the screaming Dan Crossman but if you've got that reverse stick in your locker it would be rude not to use it...

Half time arrived and at 3-0 up we were pretty pleased with the hockey with our plans coming together nicely. VC Andy said some wise words with useful contributions from the team and we eagerly anticipated the start of the 2nd half. Things continued much as the first half had left off with the notable exception of our returning centre back creeping ever higher up the pitch. It was fair to say that the praise heaped on our "highly rated new centre back" had slightly irked the returning Ryan and he was determined to demonstrate that what he may lack in speed and agility he definitely made up for in goal scoring prowess. It has not been often in Ryan's hockey playing career that he has found himself North of the penalty spot with ball in hand but it did not faze him one bit. He calmly moved the ball to his reverse before flicking past the prone Swindon Keeper, wheeling away in rapturous celebration of his first competitive goal since the late 90's.

As has often been the case this season there have been moments when in the ascendancy that we slightly let our guard down, and this week was no different. Against the run of play we conceded a short and the Swindon striker sent one down that sadly got the better of "The Fridge" - 4-1.

Some more hockey happened before Alex Davies snuck into the D and sent the ball goal bound past a diving Swindon keeper. Justin the goal hungry striker sniffed his opportunity and intercepted the ball on the line to complete his hat-trick. An opportunistic finish and a great hat-trick completed but you had to feel sorry for the returning Alex Davies...

There were a couple more shorts awarded to Swindon, Mark didn't like one of them so got a green card for his protestations. Dan also saw green for taking a Swindon free hit for them and Marlborough were briefly reduced to 9 men but held firm against the mounting pressure.

The score finished at 6 -1: another great result with a team starting to gel nicely.

We made our way up to the clubhouse for a couple of celebratory beers and match tea. Pie and beans happens to be a favourite of mine but the sausage casserole we were confronted with was a fantastic new option cooked up by Mr Watson. Not only had he organised our team whilst playing for the first team away he had only gone and cooked up a delicious little sausage casserole for us to eat after our victory - what a thoroughly nice chap!

Marlborough News Online Man of the Match - Ryan "poacher's instinct" Noble