M3 lose in the cold and rain

Report from Captain Colin

The men’s 3s took one of the longest trips of the season over to Chew Valley to play against Mendip in horrendous conditions, freezing cold and hard rain, not what anyone wants for a skilful game of hockey, and so it proved. The pitch being locked when we arrived wasn’t a great start, but it was shortly opened and was in pretty good condition for the weather it was experiencing.

The game started with some pace and it didn’t take too long to realise that the Mendip team was young, quick and skilful, we had players covering each of those, but not to the extent of the opposition who moved us around well and created a lot of pressure. To start with, every time they got in the D they lifted the ball, rarely on target, we didn’t react well to players being target practice as Pete Mansell was hit in the side and then Graham Feboul took a blow to the side of the head which split his ear. Whilst Graham was off the pitch receiving first aid from captain Colin Ainsworth and Lea-Ann Huxham the Mendip players managed to get their first goal. We tried to be a little more careful with our passes, but most of us couldn’t feel our hands and passes were going astray. We managed to have Keith Lanham hit the post for the third time this season, but that was about as close as we got.

At half time we talked about what we needed to do and went out playing a bit better and a little more patiently, it got us more into the game, but also opened the pitch up and created space for the wings and a flying Sam Down to get good movement forward with Neil Edwards battling the two players who were constantly marking him.

Mendip managed two more goals and despite San Down being taken out by a Mendip player doing a sliding football challenge in the D we only got a penalty corner and their player a green card which seemed more lenient that was seen in the recent 1s game. We couldn’t find any way through on the limited chances we had. Everyone’s effort was top notch, we started to make some good decisions on how we were trying to play, but all seemed to fail to execute our ideas effectively. Mendip were worthy winners and if they continue to play like that, deserve to finish high in the league.

Man of the match was Pete Mansell.