The Good, the Bad and the Unforgettable ! ......... Mens 2's lose 3-2 !

Some days, some things are just not meant to be, and today was one of those days!

This will be a short report, because (1) I don’t want to write about the match - I have intentionally forgotten most of it (2) I am traumatised by its recollection ! and (3) the sausage, ships and beans after the match were more memorable than the game itself !!

The 2’s turned up with a bare 11 players at Chippenham against a fully resourced home team with lots of substitutes. We started the day top of the league and dropped to 4th place and we all left the pitch frustrated and annoyed about the manner of the defeat……and the phrase “Little good ever came out of Chippenham”…..continues to ring true!

It was a game of two halves:
First half (1-0) up: We played well, scored an amazing goal (Monty Sofflet), Chippenham did not have a single shot on our goal or short corner against us. We (Dan Crossman) scored to make it 2-0 (but whistle blew for short corner as the ball hit the backboard! (3rd time that has happened this season – and we 3rd time we failed to convert !)

Second Half (1-3): We lost our shape, lost our confidence, lost our legs, lost the ball, lost 3 quick goals……..apart from that it, we were GREAT !! Importantly, despite losing 3 goals in quick succession, we fought back to 3-2 and woke up again in the last 5 minutes to play good hockey , but could not convert the final pressure into goals to claim anything from the game.

So, to the bits that were GREAT. The Chippenham keeper (allegedly never played before in goal) was great, with several excellent saves from Keith Radnedge, Andy Davidson, Ed Kendall, Dan Crossman and Rich Shuttleworth – but no way through.

1-0 Up. Monty Sofflet scored his first goal of the season. Dan Crossman split their midfield with an amazing pass from the centre circle to Monty in the D. Monty turned inside and swept the ball between the legs of the advancing keeper all in one swift movement. It was a classy goal !
We should have gone into the break 2-0 up – but we did not !
The Second half was a mix of the GOOD (we scored from a short corner!), the BAD (some of our marking), the UGLY & UNFORGETTABLE (the tackles, the whole 2nd half, the 3 quick goals & the full time score!).

2-3 STOP THE PRESS - BREAKING NEWS !! Keith Radnedge scored from a short corner! Importantly, and officially the RADNEDGE V CROSSMAN race is on to see who ends the season as the higher goal scorer! It was a smartly taken short corner – which is not often said about short corners in ANY Marlborough Club match reports !! Dan injected, Andy trapped, Keith thundered …….the ball between against the backboard, between the keeper and the post. Game on ….5 minutes to get something out of the game….sadly it was not to be.

Chippenham played the much the better hockey in the second half – but this was a game that we let slip away from us. We have been provided with all the motivation for the derby game v Devizes this coming weekend which is always an interesting game ! Onwards and upwards !

Man of the Match - No winner, no one worthy , so like the lottery…..carried over to next week !