We have all but sealed promotion to the next league!

The 5’s made their way to Witney in what can only be described as wet and windy conditions, however the first challenge for most of the players was not the weather it was which one of the 3 entrances to choose from in which only 1 lead to the changing rooms! With most getting it wrong we eventually met in the changing room for what was a brilliant team talk from Armo Snr “I haven't come all this way to lose a game of hockey“ and with that said we braved the weather and started the warm up!

The game started and we quickly found ourselves a goal up, with spirits high quickly scored another to give us a 2-0 lead within the first 5 minutes. Witney seemed to wake up after that and started to come back at us however thanks to cam in goal for some brilliant saves we kept it at 2-0. With the wind quite literally pushing us up the pitch we created a lot of chances but could not quite capitalise. With Chris, Armo and Nick controlling the midfield we pressed on looking for find a 3rd to put the game fully in our hands, unfortunately Witney scored instead and ended up making it 2-1 going into half time. At this point we had to kick all supporting partners / parents out of the dugout so we could have a team talk out of the rain! With the half time message "ignore the weather and keep playing hockey" we started the 2nd half with the rain and wind only getting worse. We moved the ball quickly, seeing a few chances go just wide up front and Duncan, at the back having to save us on a few occasions! Witney had minimal chances in the 2nd half and we managed to capitalise on a lot of possession in which we used to extend our lead to 4-1. Then somehow Witney got a 2nd goal to make it 4-2.

With most saying this was the best half of hockey we had played all season we got showered and changed and went to match tea’s at the rugby club in which we got fed sausage, chips and beans and were then given a massive bowl of chips and sausages!

We voted for MOM and DOD, the MOM was hard as so many people had a good game however Nick got MOM for a brilliant defensive display and overall good play! And Reuben got DOD for many reason however the main reasons were wearing a hat all game, wearing sliders after the game and having smelly kit!

So overall a good day for the 5’s who have all but sealed promotion to the next league! Talk of a night out surrounds the group however with most players being under 18 it will probably end up being Armo and Duncan reminiscing about the good old days in a pub somewhere!