M2A: Spencer 2 Reading 4

The Mens 2As kicked off their season with an away trip to last year’s league winners Spencer. It promised to be a difficult game given the 2As were missing no less than 7 of their squad/starting XI, including the experienced centre back pairing of Andrew “The quiet man” Steel and Roberto “All chat, all flair” Foster. In came a crop of youngsters including Kieran “Arrived in a taxi, clearly well off” Smith, Luke “Well spoken, jolly good show” Rogers and Jonny “The Werewolf” Mumford. These were complemented by the well travelled crowd favourite Blair “I’ve not played since February Reza” Dickinson.

With players operating in unfamiliar positions the 2As started nervously and quickly fell behind when a cross field pass from the left by a Spencer player deflected in to their right channel and they worked the ball across quickly to a player at the back post who flicked in after a good initial save by the Reading keeper Tommy Alexander.

The 2As initially struggled to keep the ball for extended periods and were rushed in to playing long balls behind the Spencer defence, although there were gaps appearing that would later be exploited. We slowly began to get a grip on the game and won a spate of free hits around the Spencer circle, unfortunately without reward. With the first half drawing to a close and Spencer having had a couple of close passages of play threatening to score the 2As broke away and won a penalty corner. Ben Cook stepped up to send a flick to the left of the keeper and in to the net having earlier had another flick well saved by the Spencer keeper.

At half time, with the score at 1-1, we stressed the importance of switching the ball around quicker whilst keeping a rigid formation when we didn’t have the ball. We looked to channel Spencer in to areas where we could take back possession and break quickly. This resulted in two early 2nd half goals from penalty corners, both rebound follow ups from Sam Logan and Chris Lane, giving us a 3-1 lead. As the half progressed Chris Lane and Jamie Bairstow, supported by Blair/Huw Griffiths, were excellent in winning back and retaining possession as we used the speed and movement of Sam Logan and (to a lesser extent) Ben Cook to stretch the Spencer defence.

Spencer, as ever, were not going to give up easily and as the 2As tired only having the one substitute Spencer took the initiative and broke away to score following a slick passing move. The 2As however were not to be undone and following a quick passage of play between centre back Kieran Smith and left back Luke Rogers (who were both excellent throughout) Blair, Sam and Ben worked it round Spencer’s slowing defence with Ben sweeping the ball home. After weathering the final few minutes of anticipated Spencer pressure the final whistle blew leaving a final score of 4-2 to the 2As.

This was an excellent result for us given, as mentioned, many players were playing out of position/missing. There is much the team can improve on (especially composure and patience in the final third) but this result will put us in good stead moving forward. Respect must be given to our opposition who not only played very good hockey but played in typically good spirit and I’m sure they will return to their excellent form from last season. Special mention should go to Jamie Bairstow, Chris Lane, Andy Fraser and Luke Rogers for their performances. Tommy Alexander was also excellent in goal, as usual, making a number of key saves throughout the game.

The man of the match though would have been Kieran Smith for his excellent distribution and faultless display at centre back but because Reza Ansary was playing at right back, his very presence as an outlet no doubt being of massive benefit to young Kieran, I decided that the man of the match should go to Reza. No one would argue with that.

Report written by Captain Reza “Man of the Match” Ansary.

Squad:

Tommy Alexander (GK)

Reza Ansary (C) Man of the Match

Kieran Smith

Andy Fraser

Luke Rogers

Jonny Mumford
Jamie Bairstow

Blair Dicksinon

Chris Lane (1 goal)

Ben Cook (2 goals, should’ve been more)

Huge Griffiths

Sam Logan (1 goal)