Men's 5's 3-1 Oxford

Reading's 5th XI welcomed the 4th XI of Oxford HC to Sonning Lane on a breezy and overcast afternoon in the middle of February, 2020, with the objective of contesting a fixture in the South League, MBBO, Division 4. Photographers Helen and Marc were well wrapped up and ready to snap images, with H practicing lens craft on the brightly attired umpires of Jarrod Casey and Sam Howells before the match got underway (thanks to both for umpiring).

This was a big game for top of the table Reading as 2nd placed Oxford would be keen to close the gap and make amends for their defeat in the reverse fixture earlier in the season, while the 5s needed a win to guarantee promotion and all but seal the league title. Regular captain Duncan Bond was out of town on a stag do so Chris Priddle was acting in his stead, doing a great job of organising hockey balls for the team to hit around in the cage. Even late controversy over which colour shirts and socks the team should wear was unable to knock him off his stride.

As the match got started under leaden skies, Oxford started the better side - surging forward and pegging the boys in blue deep in their own half for the first five to ten minutes. That was until the aforementioned Priddle decided we needed a few minutes rest when stretching with his reverse stick for a cross field ball, managed to deflect it upwards into Shashank Baradwaat's cheek removing him from the game and reducing the 5s to 11 men. Not ideal!

Oxford continued to press, and were looking dangerous until they crossed the 23 metre line where they ran into the parsimonious defence of Rob Farrow, Jamie Etherington, Reuben Elliot and Nic Barton. Barry Jukes in goal had the occasional clearance to make, marshalling the entirety of his D, and in truth Oxford did look like they could threaten given more time and space.

Armo Snr in midfield was having a tough time of it, with Oxford continually trying to mark him out of the game (his story/excuse for not getting involved) so it was left to Jack Mundell and Priddle, who by this point had decided to stop injuring his own players, to get on with influencing the game. Posh was also working hard in tracking back and as the half wore on the 5s started to get opportunities as Reza and Lewis Wintle were beginning to combine up top, particularly when Jack decided not to use the back of his stick.

The first half was a typically nervy top-of-the-table affair for the 5s, who were static and on the back foot compared to Oxford whose ambition exceeded their ability to get into the Reading circle.

Half time came and the score remained 0-0. Wise words from Priddle were uttered and supported by Farrow, both indicating that what was needed was to play 2 or 3 touch hockey and to move the ball on earlier, with purpose. The feeling being that Oxford had raised their game to the maximum where Reading knew they could play much better.

At the start of the 2nd half, this is exactly what the 5s did although an early short corner opportunity was squandered as the injection went to the stopper's (Armo Snr) open stick side only to be mis-trapped. In a tight game with Farrow's drag flick weaponry this was not in the game plan. Reading were improving though and starting to cause Oxford more problems, who seemed to have run out of steam in spite of their advantage of having 14 players.

Another short corner soon followed and this time a better result, with a clean injection, stop and time honoured Farrow execution leading to the opening goal.

This woke Oxford up a bit and they returned to what they were doing well in the first half and had seemingly forgotten to do at the start of the second. They pushed men forward and managed to develop an overload down the left side of Barry's D, with an initial shot well saved the same Oxford striker managed to get the ball into the goal to equalise. The Reading lead had lasted at most 3 minutes, or so it felt.

Taking a step back and changing the pace of this tale a little, it's worth remembering that the victor in any war often writes the history and that upon recollecting said events, sometimes the author can be embellish or exaggerate the story for grandiose effect. Nothing could be further from the truth on this occasion as Armo Snr received the ball at the top of Oxford circle, cage end, was forced right and away from goal by the defence yet managed to unleash what can only be described a magnificent strike into the opposite and very top corner of the goal. Top bins indeed (can you tell who is the author of this match report?)

Except. That wasn't quite all there was to the story.

(Limited) controversy surrounded who had actually scored since Reza, at the back post, had reacted at the last moment to deflect the ball into the net and ensure it was a goal - and so what may become a never ending discussion for several years to come, started. Photos from Helen and Marc will be scrutinised later but the dubious goals committee (i.e. Jarrod) gave it to Armo Snr.

Anyway, back to the match. 2-1 up, the momentum was clearly with Reading as they pressed for more goals and Oxford struggled to match their play. Nic Barton in particular, was pressing forward well from right back with the Reading's third coming shortly after the second as Nic passed to Posh, who combined with Armo Snr at the top of the circle, to find space and smash (the best word to describe it) the ball into the net just inside the right post. An emphatic finish and confidence was high in the Reading camp but Oxford weren't done yet.

Ten minutes or so remained at this point and like a phoenix emerging from the ashes, Oxford found new life having looked tired in the 2nd half. They committed men forward and caused a number of problems for Reading, with shots going astray or connections not quite coming off for them and hence not managing to add to their tally. On a different day they may well have got a goal back but as one of their club members put it on Twitter later "M4’s lose away at Reading 3-1 in very even, end to end game, not clinical enough today, onto next week!". "Even" in the sense that it was a game of two very different halves for each team, yes, but not in terms of the all important scoreline.

Talk and excitement afterwards was about the victory meaning the league title was won, however as mentioned earlier that was not correct since Oxford are still 13 points adrift (and 2nd placed in the table) with 15 points available to them in their last five games. The 5s have, however, confirmed promotion as there are no other sides that can eclipse their point score. Hurrah. One more win in the remaining five games will give them the title, which will be richly deserved given the team's progress in previous seasons.

Good news was later heard via Shashank's Dad that he was doing OK after the unfortunate ball deflection, although clearly time will tell. Here's hoping for a speedy recovery.

MoM and DoD are still up for grabs as Chris Priddle was figuring out how to add up the votes afterwards, although in fairness there were a number of people tied for glory in both categories. It was difficult to know which way that would go, so Armo Snr (not in contention!) decided to document events.

On to OMT next week and hopefully the league title!