Tenacious 4's Go Top of the League

Tenacious 4's Go Top of the League

Tenacious = to be stretched but refusing to be beaten
Experienced/old = to have played hockey for more years than your opposition

So... Newbury were young and had a few nippy players and for the first 15 minutes it could be said that we were a little off their pace. However, we had rookie goalie Anne showing natural ability and a defence that was still basking in the glory of their clean sheet against Marlow 4's. A number of Newbury attacks were thwarted until finally Newbury went 1-0 up. (I can't remember the goal - it was probably good).

This put us into a different gear and the 4's never say die attitude kicked in. From the push back we roared into life and decided to start making in roads into their half and even their 25. The equaliser was a moment of hockey gold... a pass from inside our half to Tracy H on the left who passed deftly to Sandy at the top of the D for a beautiful shot that gave the keeper no chance... we were back in the game.

From here we all battled and never gave up. Special mention to Ant for her commitment in the centre, to Maria and Heidi for being solid and hitting the ball really hard and to newcomers Emily and Susie who played like they'd been with us for seasons.

The half time talk was inspirational - thx Dipesh and Mr Millsy.

The 2nd half was more even but a little end to end (aka exhausting) and hairy at times. But the midfield and defence held off Newbury and Anne made some great saves (she even dived). Somewhere around the middle/end of the second half we got a short and Sandy cleanly shot it home - cue big celebrations. But... we weren't finished and thinking of our half time talk 'the team that wants this more will win it' we battled on. Whilst Newbury tried for the equaliser we kept tackling and battling and in a goal mouth scramble Emily scored our third goal to put the game out of Newbury's reach.

It was an awesome team performance... every player and supporter played their part (Tammy was back!!) Thx to Dipesh for running the bench with great tactics and for Liv for sorting us all out and finding Anne... today's well deserved MOM.

3 games played... 3 wins... with our 'experience' and tenacity what a season this could be!! Did I mention... WE ARE TOP OF THE LEAGUE?!!!!