Plenty of goals before the weather intervened

25 hardy players, two umpires and a posse of supporters braved the elements to enjoy the final friendly match before the Christmas break. Two mixed teams were formed - the whites and the blues. Continuing the theme from the previous week, there were numerous family and friendly rivalries in action, starting with the guest captains - Emma Storey guiding the whites and her younger brother Tom inspiring the blues.

Initially, during cold but dry conditions, the blues had the upper hand and took the lead via a brace of goals from Harry Tanser. When she realised that Harry meant business, his mum Michelle decided that her gumshield would be appropriate!

However, the whites came back into the match and pulled a goal back through Stuart Mitchell - who thoroughly enjoyed telling his daughter Immi that it was his debut goal. Old-hand Andy Bull scored again for the whites to make it level-pegging but Tanser wasn't to be denied and he completed his hat-trick to make it 3-2 at half-time.

The rain had now started and the supporters had decided that discretion was the better part of valour, so the interval was kept short.

Emma Storey gave her team a brief pep-talk during the break and they came out firing on all cylinders in the second half. They roared into a commanding 6-3 lead with two more goals for Stuart Mitchell, a penalty flick from Bully and a close-range finish from Ben Mayes.

Hal Robinson scored with a fine strike to give the blues a glimmer of hope but as the weather deteriorated further, Finn Smith capped the victory for the whites when he bundled home at the back post.

Despite the weather, there was some good hockey played especially from the junior boys and girls. Let's hope the sun shines on the club in 2019 as the teams continue with their league campaigns.