Match Reports - February 15, 2014

1st XI 2-1 Woking
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In any campaign there are matches to remember and ones which are quickly forgotten. This hard-fought tussle with relegation-threatened Woking definitely falls into the latter category for players and umpires alike.

For much of the first-half we were slightly below par and Woking, who had delivered out only pre-season defeat, did not look a bottom-three side. We did create more chances – Harry Thomas had the ball in the goal off a short only to be disallowed after a vociferous appeal – but Paddy Harman gave us the lead soon after as we went into the break good for a one-goal lead.

Would you let David Knapp treat you?

The problem of the second half was that the umpires decided to clamp down on a game which had not been in any way niggly or contentious. The only reason would seem to be they were being assessed but whatever it was, they turned the game on its head in a matter of three minutes by brandishing three yellows against us; the second may have been justified, the others were ludicrous. A unquestionable flick against us in this period was saved - although it was dreadful, trickling into the keeper who would have been hard pressed to avoid it - but inevitably the three-man deficit told and we conceded.

The umpiring continued to mystify – rather than continue by the benchmarks they had themselves set, they seemed to back off and allowed a string of tackles worse than the earlier carded ones to go unpunished – in one attack we could have had three men yellowed. Perhaps to even things up Woking received two. What’s more, there were endless breaks in play to address the most petty of infractions and this unsettled both sides.
Back to full strength, the injustices galvanised us into life and we enjoyed our best period with Chris Wiseman firing home the winner ten minutes from time after several good saves by the Woking keeper.

On another day we could have lost this game and found our lead in Premier 2 down to two points. As it was other results went our way and we left TD with a seven-point margin over London Edwardians and eight over West Hampstead. We play them both over the next fortnight.

3rd XI 3-0 Thames Valley & Chertsey
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It's a funny thing, being captain of the 3rd team. On Friday evening I had 11 players on the team sheet. The next morning, I woke up to find I had 9, then 15 by the time I got to the pitch, and somehow back on 11 when the game started. 

But what an 11! Facing off against top of the table Chertsey was a daunting prospect, and spectators were keen to point out the differences in pre-match preparation between the two teams, my rather 'hands off' approach and Chertsey's more rigid 'whiteboard and magnets' making an interesting contrast.

The OCs had a shaky start, with several rushed passes giving the ball away too easily and piling the pressure on ourselves. Some determined defending meant that Chertsey were unable to capitalise on their early possession and the arrival of Kevin Smith allowed us to rotate players and keep the energy up the whole game. The Marshall brothers, Dan and Toby, in the centre put together some great passes and Jody consistently made key jab tackles, cutting down on Chertsey's movement. The OCs started to make positive moves up the field, including some great runs of 10 or more passes. I was reminded of "Mario football" on the Nintendo Wii, where the ball accumulates more power the more passes you make. If we had indeed been playing Mario football then the ball would have been positively glowing with energy by the time  it came to yours truly in the opponent's D. Thankfully I knew exactly what to do; cop out and put the ball on a defender's foot. Hey presto, it's someone else's responsibility to score! And score Knappy did, taking us a goal up into the second half.

In the second half it was more of the same, with the OCs playing a composed, simple game of hockey. We strung together some great, easy passes round the back and early on found Knappy in the D for him to put away his second goal. Faced with losing, Chertsey increasingly lost their cool with the OCs, who did well not to react to some of the wild tackles and barges which were increasingly dealt out. I overheard Martin (who was umpiring) telling one player that he was on his "very last, final warning". It's so much nicer when he's saying that to an opponent rather than Nige...

The OC's passing game continued, and returnees Ed Brown and James Seymour swiftly closed down any attacks which came our way. To round it all off, on our third short corner of the game, Knappy's shot rebounded to Bish, who popped the most timid flick I have ever seen, straight over their keeper.

As if beating the top team wasn't enough, I even managed to add insult to injury by getting the oppo's name wrong at the end. They said after the game that we had been one of the toughest teams they have played all season, and as we were only their third defeat, the numbers certainly confirm that statement. Man of the match was voted for and shared equally by Knappy, Dan and Jody.

This fifth win of the season puts us within reach of the middle of the table with five games to play.