The England Hockey League enjoyed its first ever half-term break at the weekend, but The Saint found men’s first team captain, Gareth Parker hard at work doing extra training sessions and planning team strategy for the rest of the season.

“Our preseason this year was highly enjoyable, though different and challenging, given the conditions. We had to be flexible but this gave lots of people the opportunity to get involved in the First Team. Training has been really energetic, with a focus on getting back to hockey, re-establishing standards and a style of play; call it a Covid Response Program”.

“Every advantage counts, and extra sessions have made it possible to practise set-piece routines such as penalty corners, so thanks to the club for making this possible”.

“First and Second Team training has been really well attended, averaging 25 players and three keepers. Exciting new arrivals have included Josh McArthur from Boots, Italian international goalkeeper Nicolo Anserini on a year out from Exeter University, and up and coming youngsters such as Hamish French and Matt Walker, whose great attitude in training has earnt some valuable match time with the First Team”.

“Results-wise, we’ve had an encouraging start to the season, with two wins and two losses, including a narrow 1-0 defeat against strong opponents at West Bridgford and a highly entertaining 7-4 loss to Nottingham Uni 2's. We’ve adapted well to a tougher, faster league with better tacticians. Players have stepped up with maturity and coped well with the added pressure and higher standards”.

"The background to all this, was the target to gain promotion for the first time in almost 10 years, which we have achieved getting back into the Midlands Prem. We've done that with a stable and committed squad over the past five seasons and that has allowed the First Team to establish a strong culture and clear tactical understanding between the players. It importantly, has challenged the players to accept responsibility to set standards for the rest of the Club, on and off the pitch. It is a great set of guys to be around and we have to always remember, we are here to have fun!"

The First Team’s next game is home against Barton who currently sit top of the Midland Men’s Premier Division. It’s on at Moulton at 1pm on Saturday 30th October. The weather looks ok and who knows, maybe the pitch will have been cleaned.

In other news

Saints Juniors had a busy weekend recently with seven fixtures against a range of teams from far and wide across the West Midlands. With a combined result last week of 23-28, these pulsating games are well worthy of a watch if you’re interested in high scoring matches. Well played to the juniors and thanks to parents and grown grown-ups for doing the driving.

Look cool this winter in the latest Saints kit; remember folks, ordering deadline from club shop is 10th December!