Mens 1 vs Blueharts 2 (Slip Date)

A rearranged game saw Blueharts come over to face the mighty in Harpenden under the lights on Wednesday. Ian Durbidge was still suffering with his hurty knee, plus Tom Bunbury with an achey back saw us bring in Freddie to left half. George Hudson decided that there was something better to do on his birthday than playing hockey - quite what this could be I don't know? Well this meant we could draft in Nick Chouksey for a welcome return.

Additionally Dom was finally available to return from injury, on the sideline the question was asked what ailment he had been struggling with, "haemorrhoids" came the answer from Vijay. I thought he'd had a hernia. That is a double whammy to have suffered through, glad you're OK now Dom.

Before the warmup had even begun we suffered another injury as Mark Hoefield collapsed on the floor with a back spasm. Captain Dan made the quick call that we needed another forward, amd called Russell Timms. Russell tried to play it cool, pretending that he wasn't already in the car park fully kitted out, hoping for a last minute call up and ready to go. His eagerness betrayed him however, there's no way he got from Redbourn to the pitch in 1minute and 47seconds after the call went through.

No Bunbury meant Nick Kimberley had me as a centre back partner. I did my absolute best to concentrate for the entirety of the pre-match team talk. We spoke about the press, my mind wondered to whether the magic squashies purchaser had brought some for half time; we spoke about focussing on nothing but the job in hand, I remembered that I had some maths books in the attic from 20 years ago that Freddie might want (even if he's heading off to Cambridge, boo); we spoke about determination, attitude and winning the 50/50s, I knew what to do here - angry face engaged.

The first half felt that we coughed the ball up a lot. Blueharts seem to have the best of the possession, but didn't really get to trouble us that much. The young whippet I was marking for most of it commented how our zonal defensive system was snuffing out their threat as they tried to drag us out of position we just went "let him go", or "yours", I also discovered the whippet said he was a "1s and 2s player" - bit too honest there fella!

So Blueharts had much of the possession and pressure but few goal scoring opportunities. At half time no one had anything to say to me specifically which I always take a sign I haven't done anything outrageously bad or stupid. Thankfully the squashie master was on point today.

And so to the second half. Fraser on the sideline was desperate to see an aerial or two. I found Charlie Moxham beautifully, the umpire though he was given 5 metres of space, we thought he was given 5inches of space. The next aerial, unsurprisingly, was given against us.

Blueharts finally found a player high on the baseline through our zonal defence, a nice cross found the whippet charging in and a smart finish left Andy King no chance in goal.

Harps 0 - 1 Blueharts

Oh well, plenty of time left in the game, and as a defender (ahem, I actually prefer super-talented player who happens to be played in defence by this team) I think clean sheets are a rarity, and if we concede one goal a game we've done well. It's up to the forwards to score 3!

We were by no means being outplayed, and chances came our way. We had a few short corners, one Todd at point as we tried to work the ball into the goal. Another Dom unleashed a sonic boom ,alas it was saved, so I can't really call it a sonic boom, maybe a sub-sonic pop? Dom also fired a ball into the keepers helmet in open play, I'm sure the keeper will claim it as a save and they intended to use their cranium to stop a goal.

We finally equalised as Feddie made a great run down the left flank, culminating with a scramble in the D. Todd attempts a herculean reverse stick tomahawk... which ended up with Henry who provided a clinical finish.

Harps 1 - 1 Blueharts.

We didn't score again. Neither did they. Andy King wasn't troubled.