Tough start in the heat at OBs

NSHC Men's 3s went to OBs knowing that they had just missed out on promotion last year, only by goal difference and would likely be a difficult start to the campaign, and so it proved.

Captain Colin Ainsworth deliberately set the team up to play a fairly defensive version of 4-4-2 and were found out a little in the first half, inviting alot of pressure on, partly from being heavily pressed into our half and struggling to get much of an outlet as OBs were man marking well as soon as they lost the ball. The pressure told and OB's managed two goals before the break. A good discussion at half time and input from Jon Venn and Phil Toomey saw us try to be a little more attacking in our play and push our lines a little further forward to move the pressure further out. It worked well and we saw most of the play in the opposition half for the second part of the game, however neither team seemed to get many decisions given despite obvious fouls by both teams which resulted in a considerable amount of frustraion on the pitch.

OB's did open the scoring in the second half with a good break, but we carried on the pressure, winning a couple of penalty corners and after a defender stopped the ball on the line with his leg a penalty flick was awarded. After PT had plenty of attempts last year he was well practiced and neatly slotted away a deserved goal. We should have had the ball in the back of the net a couple more times, but failed to capitalise on our good play, at least partly due to some excellent last ditch defending by OB's. As the heat took it's toll and we started to flag a little OB's pressed on and got two more goals to make the scoreline more flattering for them than the game would suggest.

A club debut for Tim Humphries was a good sign of things to come and with more young players getting league time and impressing with their energy levels and determination the club is moving in the right direction.