Feeling the Force!

As Captain of the men's fourth team it makes a change to be sitting writing a match report about a the historic first league win of the season . Sitting at the bottom of the league it is difficult to keep putting positive comments against a heavy loss. So now I am in uncharted territory.

Today was one of those mythical games where the minnows win against stronger opposition. The day started with the team being assembled with plenty of time to warm up. The team appeared to be bright and eager with the novelty of playing on a Sunday in this delayed match against the league leaders who were sitting 4 points in front of second place with a game in hand. The team itself welcomed back some returning players who have been unavailable to 4's due to work and family commitments for most of the season. A small number of volunteer players from 3's also dropped down to ensure that the fixture could be fulfilled.

Time flew and soon I was being called by the referees for the toss of the coin preventing the usual pre match team talk to go through the tactics to be employed during the match. However, Tim Plevin who is an advocate of positive thinking was asked to employ his " Jedi" mind tricks to put us in the correct frame of mind. A rousing 2 minute session managed to unlock our "Awesome" hockey skills and the team never looked back.

Cambridge pushed back after winning the toss and tried to assert themselves on the Kettering team they had beaten 6-0 at home. However, right from the off Kettering decided that this was not to be the case, confidently pushing up and applying pressure to all of the visiting players. Closing off space in midfield and not allowing the Cambridge side to unleash there usual powerful and accurate clearances from the back.

In the opening 20 minutes Kettering gained more confidence and possession and began to pass the ball around threatening the Cambridge defence. Ben York playing in an unfamiliar forward role was drifting left to collect the ball and holding it up nicely for support to come from Gavin Ferries. Several moves found crosses and drives going into the Cambridge area but no home player could get on the end. Dan Carter and Ben Smith were also combining nicely down the right to provide variation to the play. All be orchestrated by confident displays from the midfield players. The defense also had a part to play pushing up to make early tackles and interceptions.

But Kettering were employing a high risk strategy against the experienced Cambridge side. On a number of occasions throughout the half the visitors were able to break free and quickly move the ball around catching the defence in 2 on 1 situations but only for mistakes to be made, the defense to make last ditch interceptions or Brendan Read to make a confident save or clearance. A clear shot on goal was just not forthcoming. The longer the half went on the home team could sense the frustration of the visitors and uncharacteristic mistakes began to creep in. The whistle blew for the first half for the game to remain even at 0-0.

Kettering knew that the league leaders would not be happy with being held to a goalless draw by the bottom team of the league and were expecting an onslaught. This prediction came to pass with the defence being pushed back for the next 5 minutes. A couple of short corners were awarded and defended well. A number of long shots were tried and either went wide, cleared or saved by the inspired keeper.

Kettering began to regain their ground in the match continuing with their strong play down either wings. A succession of short corners were awarded and finally one of them produced the goal. The ball went to the top of the D to Mark Hawkins who then took a shot. After a number of rebounds and poor clearances the ball fell to Ben Mills to hit a reverse stick shot past the keeper.

The Cambridge side regrouped and pushed forward but they were reduced to speculative long balls from the back to try and release one of their forward players. Desperate defence was required at times from Kettering but no clear cut chances were produced. At the other end several short corners were awarded to the home time but none could be converted. Eventually the clock ticked down and the home team managed to hold on.

Today there was no man of match because everybody played out of their skin. Where we would normally ebb away in the last 20 minutes of a match all of the players kept gong to the final whistle. Aching legs will be felt tonight with the satisfaction of a job well done.

Next week welcomes Ely 3's to the Kettering pitch. Hopefully this performance will result in another positive result against the team sitting just above us in the league.